Lagoon of the Dead
by draconichero21
Summary: When the walking dead hit Roanapur it's top elite evacuate offshore. Things go fine until the Lagoon Company's torpedo boat is wrecked. They arrive in Japan where the situation is far worse. HSotD cast involved starting in ch 3. Rated M for language. ON INDEFINATE HIATUS
1. City of the Dead

**(A/N: Some ideas come to you in the weirdest of ways. This one happened to come from a conversation between me and a pal of mine blekmedelninjan. We wrote this together. We swapped off every now and then with who was writing and we finally have this up and running. You folks tell me how this looks and we'll get back to you when we've got some new material)**

Revy felt… a mite ticked off. It was just one of those days, when you woke up on the wrong side and your morning mood stuck with you. She'd gone out to buy some beer, since that whiny ass bitch Rock- well, not whiny per se, she just felt like quietly cursing anyone she could think of- had said they needed more, and Dutch always liked to pop a cold one once he got back from negotiations with whatever employer they had.

As she walked down the street, grumbling to herself over everything and everyone, she barreled into somebody- or rather, somebody barreled into her, some… fat fuck? He looked deformed, bloated.

"Watch where you're going, you stupid fucking tub of lard!" She sneered. Was he a flu victim? She's heard the green flu had spread all over the U.S, a god damn plague to end all plagues. She'd heard it spread to East Asia, including Roanapur, she just hadn't seen anybody afflicted yet.

The tub of lard, apparently unaware of who he was fucking with, lamely struck her across the face, giving a low groan. Having had about enough, her day shitty enough already, Revy snapped. She hit him across the face with the pack of freshly purchased Heireken beer, and whipped out her Cutlass.

"If you're so fucking stupid you'd try and piss me off, I'm doing the world in general a favor by offing you." She snarled, popping off a shot in the man's face.  
>What happened next surprised even her. The man exploded- literally exploded- showering her with some messy, stinking goo.<p>

"…what the fuck?"

Revy looked at her slime-covered clothes. It was everywhere. There was even slime dripping into her cleavage and pants. The six-pack was also covered in the same rotten gunk. Revy had just about had enough of this day of hers.

She decided the next person she saw was going to get a face full of bullets. The explosion, unfortunately, was now attracting more sickly individuals like the one she just shot. It was unfortunate… for them, at least. Revy cracked a wide slasher smile.

"Perfect, just what I need right about now." She held up her cutlasses and began unloading round after round into the flu-stricken fuckers. Only when she was out of ammunition did she take a deep breath, holster her guns, picked up the beer and walked… or rather, stomped back to the Lagoon Company.

She made it back and slammed open the door. Rock, who had the misfortune of standing in Revy's path got pushed aside.

"I'm going to take a shower." she announced as she clacked the beer on the kitchen counter. "Anyone who disturbs me is fucking dead."

She slammed the door to the bathroom only to come back, grab a beer from the pack, rinsed it off of the smell and the gunk in the sink and then went back into the bathroom and slammed the door.

"What's her problem?" Rock wondered.

"Who knows?" Benny said holding up the newspaper he was reading. "Wouldn't be the first time Revy's been off on the rampage like that. Who knows, maybe it's that time of the month for her."

"I dunno…" Rock said, brushing off some goo from the rim of his shirt. Revy had been covered in the stuff, and… had she fallen into a sewer? That would explain her bad- worse- mood.

"She's been out shooting people." Dutch stated.

"Come one now, you don't know that." Rock said. "Why would you just assume-"

"She came back home with two clips less than what she went out with. If she had to defend herself, fine, but things have been pretty damn quiet lately. If she just lost her temper and started blowing people away, we will be having words."

Rock sighed. He hoped Revy hadn't gone and done something stupid- she was tough, but if Dutch wanted to have words with you, you'd have to be stupid or Balalaika not to be sweating a little about it.

His train of thought was interrupted as the phone rang. Dutch, picking it up, listened, cut in with the occasional "yeah" or "Mhmm", and finished after some two minutes with a "You got it."

"What's happening, Dutch?" Benny asked. "Some new job?"

"…you could say that, Benny. This one's special, though."

"We've handled special before." Rock said nonchalantly. "What is it, some super-secret cargo? Somebody need kidnapping?"

"You know how they say that when the rats abandon ship, you should be jumping over the rail as well?"

"Look, don't be cryptic with us, Dutch." Benny cut in, sounding a little annoyed. "Just lay it on us, so we know what's up."

"The flu." Dutch said, his face as impassive as always. "You know how it's been moving across the U.S, right?"

"Yeah, it's all over the news." Rock said. "An honest to god zombie apocalypse, right? The dead walking, feeding on the living and infecting the fallen, all that cliché shit. Didn't they contain it, though?"

"In a way, yeah. Doesn't seem like it stopped the flu from spreading though. Word from Hotel Moscow is, it's spread all over Japan, and moved on to east Asia in general- now specifically Roanapur. Balalaika is evacuating the Vysotniki. All of them."

Rock choked on his cigarette. All of them? Balalaika never made a rash move. If she was evacuating, shit had really hit the fan in a way nobody could have imagined.

"We'll be taking Balalaika and some of her closest out to a safe house in a small island chain. We leave tonight, and we are not coming back till this shit dies down. Bring supplies, all of you." With that, Dutch turned around, walking out the door to make preparations. He brought his shotgun with him

Revy came out of the shower about thirty minutes later, rubbing her head with a towel, dressed in a replication of her usual outfit.

"Ugh, that stuff stank to high heaven. It'll probably take three weeks to get out both the stains and the stink." She reached for the six-pack and pulled out another beer.

Rock, the only one foolish- or brave- enough in the world to question Revy on her actions, asked her, "Revy, Dutch said you went out on a shooting? What happened?"

"A bunch of those fuckbags with that god damn flu started mobbing me after I blew away one fatass like them. Those things ain't human anymore, I tell ya." Revy said, sitting in a chair. Without giving Rock a chance to respond she asked, "Where's Dutch?"

"Outside," Rock answered, "We just got a call from Balalaika about a job. She's evacuating the entire Vysotniki. We're supposed to back supplies and go. We're not coming back till this has calmed down. Benny's standing watch in case those things come our way."

"So it's gotten that bad, huh?" Revy asked.

"How are you not the least bit concerned about this?" Rock asked.

"I unloaded two clips into those fuckers and they died straight off. If you ask me, that's the best way to deal with this shit till we get a vaccine or some cure." Revy said lighting a cigarette.

"Revy, you can't just go around shooting people." Rock said.

Revy grew cross with the Japanese. "Listen, Rock," her eyebrows converged, "those things aren't human any more. They look like the god damn living dead. I've read the papers. One bite and it's all over. You wanna stand around and become lunch, that's fine with me. I'll be sure to pop a cap in your ass once you've come back as one of them."

A couple of minutes passed in silence, till the phone rang again. Revy sighed.

"I'll get it." She picked up the phone. "Lagoon Company," she answered unenthusiastically.

"Revy, that you?" It was Eda.

"Oh, it's just you, Eda? If you want to talk to me personally, call my cell." Revy told her.

"Hey, this ain't no social call, I need help!" Eda shouted.

"Oh I've been waiting for this day." Revy cackled. "The day you have nowhere else to turn so you call us to bail your ass out of the fire."

"This isn't funny, Revy! This is a life or death situation!" Eda shot back. "One of those fucking flu victims mingled with the Mass crowd, and now the whole church has turned into a feeding frenzy for those fuckers. I'm not going out like this." Revy could hear gunfire on the other line.

Still, she didn't exactly feel like sticking her neck out for Eda for nothing. "Let's talk payment first."

"I'll pay whatever you want just get me and the others the fuck outta here!" Eda resigned.

Revy cackled again. "No problem." She hung up and called out the front door. "Hey Dutch! We got something to do while we wait till sundown!"

"Dutch is out, Revy." Rock reminded her. "Guess you're stuck with me now, huh?"

"Well, whoop-dee-fucking doo." Revy snorted. "Come on then. Eda's about to give us half a million dollars."

"Does Eda know she is about to give us half a million dollars?" Rock said, smiling slightly.

"She's a cheap bitch, but she'd rather be alive an' poorer than rich and dead, that's for sure." Revy said, grinning. Rummaging through the lagoon armory- which doubled as booze cabinet, and extra machine parts storage- she pulled out her treasured grenade launcher. And a pair of AK-47s. And an RPG. And half a dozen hand grenades. And a few Molotov coktails. And-

"Are we looking to start a war, Revy?"

Revy grinned. "The 'nade launcher and the molotovs for crowd control. The assault rifles cause… hell, I just never get to take these babies out, and now we got targets galore."

"And the RPG?"

"For unforeseen consequences." Revy said, with that glimmer in her eye that told Rock that she was in the mood to do great bodily harm unto others, with very little provocation.

The drive there was… a tad shocking for Rock. Only a few days ago he had driven past there, business as usual, the city alive and prospering. Pimps taking money off their whores, mafia enforcers collecting "protection" money, drug dealers peddling cocaine at the street corners… the melody of Roanapur, played loudly and coarsely, as it always had been.

Now it was quiet, victims of the green flu walking the street, the unaffected only venturing out when they had to. He had known it was bad, but this bad?

Soon, the church came into view. It was every bit as bad as Eda had led them to believe. The doors had been barred, but were breaking, the infected roaming round, looking for a way in.

"Well, let's bust this place open, why don't we?" Revy said, enjoying this far more than Rock thought was healthy. She pulled up the hood to the car. She pulled up the hood of the car. "Wait in the car, and don't come out unless you feel like getting bitten or caught in the crossfire. If I think the area is secure I'll signal you." She exited the vehicle, brandishing an AK in each arm and kicked the door shut. "This is gonna kick ass."

She charged out gunning down anything that moved. Thankfully, none of the moving objects were human. The only things she hit that were outside the church were the victims of the flu and one unfortunate mocking bird that just happened to be flying by.

When Revy was sure there were no other creeps nearby, she signaled Rock forward. Rather than walking, the young man drove up right to the church door and got out of the car; an intelligent move since some of the flu victims were walking up the large hill towards the church. Revy popped the trunk, and pulled out the RPG she had brought and fired upon the slow moving brain dead Ex-humans. She then banged on the door.

"Hey Eda! Open up! Bail's here!"

There was no response…rather no vocal one. An old hand reached out of the door and tried to grab Rock. The frightened Japanese backed away and Revy just unloaded half a dozen shots of the AK in her right arm and amputated the hand clawing its way out. She then pulled out a grenade, pulled out the pin threw it lightly into the hole broken open by the hand twitching on the ground, grabbed Rock by the back of his shirt led him around to other side of the car and shouted, "Get down!"

And explosion resonated through the area, and the church gates turned to splinters. Revy got up and looked through the car windows, now damaged by the explosion, and saw that things on the inside of the Church were just about as bad as they were out a few minutes ago.

She saw return fire coming from an overturned pew on top of the altar, which the two handed gunman figured must be Eda's location. The manic creatures split between going after the gunfire from the altar and heading towards the new noise, the source of which was Revy's grenade.

"Stay right where you are and don't move a muscle unless I tell you to. Revy told Rock," she handed him the rest of the grenades, "If you see any more of those fuckers coming up the street use these. Just don't hesitate or you'll blow yourself up and I am not mopping up your remains."

"Don't underestimate me." Rock snorted, setting fire to the fuse of a Molotov. As Revy strolled up the dead center isle towards the altar, switching to her Cutlasses and casually gunning down the remaining infected on her way, she could feel the heat in the air- Rock had really done it, and judging by the lack of explosions, he had actually managed not to hit the car. Good boy!

"Eda, baby!" Revy said, grinning, dramatically reloading her handguns, "you look like you're in a pinch! Need a helping hand, eh?"

"Don't get cute with me, Revy!" Eda snapped. "This bullshit infection already got Yolanda and most of our clergy, and I need out of here, now. You'll get-"

"One million dollars, Eda." Revy said, shooting off her best shit eating, I-have-you-now-so-don't-mess-with-me grin. "The gas money to get up here is just so expensive, and a girl's gotta eat."

"Fuck you, Revy!" Eda sneered. "Twenty grand, and that's it!"

"Yawn." Revy said, holstering her Cutlasses. "We're leaving, Rock. I think we can steal some guns and ammo to make the trip worth it, at least."

"You can't leave me here-" Eda grew quiet at the absurdity of her statement. "Forty grand, cash."

"See if you can get some gas too, Rock. I think we got most of 'em round here. Dutch did say to look for supplies, after all."

"One hundred!" Eda spat. "One hundred, and-"

"Was that so hard, Eda?" Revy said, grinning. "Five hundred, plus your guns and gas."

"A hundred and fifty, and we keep our guns!"

"No deal. What, you can't find transport on your own?"

"…no. Our cars are stuck downtown. Two hundred, that's all I have. The rest is wired to our accounts, and we don't have access to those. Our sponsors cut all electronic ties three days ago. Two hundred, that's as high as I can go."

"Hmm…" Revy said, the smug look on her face almost unbearable, "two hundred? Fine, but I get the top bunk. Bring what guns, ammo, food and gas you can, 'cause the Lagoon sure as hell won't be supplying you."

"You're a bloodsucking, no-good evil bitch, Revy." Eda said, shaking hands with the mercenary.

"And you're a stupid cunt." Revy said, grinning. "Now, got any pals to go with you?"

Rock wasn't sure whether it was sad or heartwarming that this was as close to genuine, friendly affection the two had ever been.

He waited around while Revy and Eda loaded everything coming back to the office into the car.

"So how is it only you managed not to get bitten?" he heard Revy say to Eda as she slammed the trunk.

Eda shrugged. "Who knows? Speaking of which, I call—" Before she could finish, Revy was already in the front seat next to Rock. Eda just grumbled and got in the back figuring arguing was just going to cause Revy to demand more out of her pocket. Rock started the car, and began to drive down the hill, only for the road to come to a dead stop. Eda, who wasn't wearing her seat belt went flying onto the floor.

Revy, who hadn't had her eyes on the road, shouted out, "What the fuck Rock?" only to see the hordes of living dead walking the streets. "I'll say it again: what the fuck Rock?" 

"What's the holdup, huh?" Eda wanted to know getting up and putting her elbows on the front seats and adjusting her glasses. Revy put her hand up to signal to the blonde that she would handle it.

"Rock, this isn't a fucking courtesy to a family of ducklings. Hit that fucking gas pedal and drive!" Revy shouted.

"But…"

"Fucking floor it!" Revy shouted. She waited for all of about five seconds before unbuckling her seatbelt and going, "You know what? Fuck it!" she stood up in the cramped car, put her leg over the console, kicked Rock's leg out of the way and stomped on the gas. The laws of physics forced Eda to press against the back seat cushions.

"Gah! You're fucking crazy, Revy!" the nun shouted.

Rock could barely see or steer, but still flipped the windshield wipers on their highest setting as limbs, innards, fluids and blood impacted on the glass. As the car sped down the hill driving through the infected people like a homerun backyard baseball through a first floor window, the automobile hit a bump in the road causing Revy to lurch forward and completely block Rock's view and her foot off the gas. Rock's first instinct, as with any good driver, was to push Revy back into her seat and hit the brakes. What he didn't realize in the moment though was that to push the gunslinger back he had pushed his hand on her right breast.

Revy landed on her ass, on her seat, and hit her head against the cracked window. The car then came to a complete stop. Rock rested his head against the steering wheel, thankful that he, and everyone and everything in the car, plus the car itself, was still in one piece.

"Rock."

"Yeah, Revy, what?" Rock snapped. "You crazy bitch, you almost got us killed!"

"You can take your hand off my chest now, Rock." Revy said in an alarmingly calm voice.

Realizing that he would be better off trying to fondle a rabid tiger, Rock retracted his hand as if he had been holding white-hot iron.

"Rock, get out of the fucking car." Revy said, still in that horrifying deadpan voice.

"Look Revy, I didn't mean to- and this isn't the time to get all-"

"OUT." Revy's tone- and drawn handgun- brooked no disagreement.

Getting out, Rock continued his protests. "Look, we got infectees all around us. What are you going to do, leave me here? Is that it?"

Not answering him, Revy kicked him in the chest, sending him tumbling down into the dust. Grabbing a nearby infected, who had strayed close, she shoved it down on top of Rock. Mindlessly, it began to claw at him. Rock was not caught off guard though, and caught its arms before it could scratch him.

"Revy, what the hell-" his first attempt at showing it off was halted by her boot weighing it down.

"Look Revy, this isn't the time to go apeshit over an accidental grope. Shit happens, and more importantly, the zombies are getting restless!" Eda hissed.

"This has got nothin' to do with that." Revy said. "I need to know if you're going to go all pussy on me, Rock. Look at this here flu fucker. Does he look like he's got any sense to him? Maybe you could try to reason your way out of this, huh?"

"What-"

"It's the living. Fucking. Dead. Rock. It's Resident Evil, except in real life. We have a zombie apocalypse on our hands, and I need to know if you're going to pull your weight in this."

"Revy, knock it the fuck off!" Rock snarled. "This isn't funny!"

"Do you see me laughing?"

"What the fuck do you want from me?"

"I gotta be honest with ya, Rock. When you first came here, I thought you were just as much of a pansy as you looked, and that you'd get yourself killed within the week. But, you didn't. Fucking kudos to ya. But, our situation has changed fucking drastically, and your little "no guns" ideal sticks out like a sore thumb. If we're gonna live, each and every one of us will have to kill again and again and again, because we either kill or die now. Fuck Status Quo, that shit is gone now. The bosses got not enforcers left to keep the peace, business as usual, 'cause they are all catching the flu."

"What the fuck do you want from me, you crazy bitch?" Rock screamed, nearing a breaking point. The zombie, lame though it was, was a horrifying thing to have so close. Its bald face was full of sores; half its cheek had been torn off, and its teeth were broken. It stunk like waste left out in the sun, and that mindless groaning was something he knew he would hear in his nightmares.

"You got a zombie trying to kill you. Kill it or you're done for." Revy responded flatly.

"Here, whack him dead with this!" Eda cut in, tossing a short lead pipe to Rock. "Whatever gets us out of here quicker, okay?"

Finally, something snapped within Rock. That groaning, lifeless face, that stench- he hated it! He hated it with a passion! Shoving the not-quite-dead carcass off of him, he swung at it. As his fist impacted, he could feel the jaw snap. Bone wasn't supposed to be this brittle.

"There we go, Rocky boy. Now finish the job!" Revy spat.

Grabbing the lead pipe, Rock swung. The zombie's head cracked like an egg, brains soiling his shirt. Breathing heavily, he got to his feet.

"This- this is some bullshit…" was all he managed, his voice almost failing him.

"You did good, Rock." Revy said, patting him on the back. "Now, let's go-"

What Rock did next would live in their memories forever. Clenching his fist, he socked Revy in the jaw, hard. With a look of pure shock on her face, she fell over on the ground.

"Oh boy, this isn't gonna be pretty…" Eda murmured, keeping watch for more infected.

Slowly, Revy got back up to her feet. Rock stood his ground- he had had enough of this bullshit. If she was going to shoot him, fine.

Then, Revy just tossed her head back, and laughed; laughed like she just heard the funniest thing in her life. Now, it was Rock's turn to be surprised. Rock and Revy got back in the car.

They drove back to the Lagoon in silence.

**To Be Continued…**

**(A/N: Right…so…chapter 1 over. Like I said blekmedelninjan and I wrote this together. I'm posting on and he's posting on DA. His username there is greatkingrat88. If I can't answer any questions you have he's the guy you need to contact. See ya peeps. Draconichero20 out!)**


	2. Evacuation From the Dead

**(A/N: After some long awaited anticipation blekmedelninjan and I have finally put our heads together and produced another chapter for all of you. Enjoy it.)**

* * *

><p>Getting back to the Lagoon headquarters had never felt like such a relief for Eda. The oppressive silence in the ride home had unnerved her; it had felt like she was sitting on a trunk full of nitro-glycerine about to blow. Rock had been glaring out the window as if the world in general had kicked his puppy, and creepier still was Revy and that huge grin on her face. She had never seen her smile like that, keep quiet, and see it end peacefully.<p>

Then again, Revy had just murdered the hell out of a dozen or so infectees, and there were no cops to stop her, so hopefully the young sociopath had had her fill of violence for the day. Hopefully.

She sighed to herself. She had been forced to part with one of her dearest possessions in this world, namely a briefcase filled with money. She had two more with her, but still…well, at least she didn't have to worry about protection any more. The Lagoon crew was bad-ass, everyone in Roanapur knew it, and soon enough they'd be on their merry way out to some safe zone, preferably a tropical island with Margaritas and tanned pool boys wearing leather thongs for work…

She was abruptly torn from her increasingly lewd fantasies of young attractive men, as the car stopped as smoothly as a bull in a china shop. Getting out, Eda dragged her luggage with her, in to the Lagoon headquarters. She considered asking Revy or Rock for help, but thought better of it. Best not to stir a powder keg that's already close to going "boom".

"We're back."

"'Bout time you show up." A highly familiar and heavily accented voice echoed through the room. "We thought psycho dead freaks make you all disappear."

"Well paint me green and call me a turnip." Revy chuckled as she grabbed a beer and looked off to where the doorway had blindsided her view to the left side of the headquarters. Standing in a corner was Shenhua, Rotton the Wizard, and Sawyer the Cleaner. Sawyer and Shenhua both were covered in blood and ooze. Rotton smelled of gunpowder, and was noticeably short of ammunition.

"What are you doing here, chinglish?"

Benny, who was on the couch reading a newspaper and drinking beer turned his head to look over his shoulder and address the situation.  
>"They showed up about ten minutes after you left. I figured you or Dutch would be better at deciding what to do with them. The wise unarmed man doesn't negotiate with a person more well-armed than a soldier on parade."<p>

"Glad I got here first then," Revy was aglow. "Dutch is too soft when it comes to negotiations."

While that wasn't entirely true, when compared to Revy, letting Dutch handle a negotiation when the circumstances were pay up or die would be the same as comparing a minor purse snatching to a full on jewel heist.

"So I take it you three are like Eda here?"

"Word on street is, Lagoon Company making evacuation for Hotel Moscow. We thought we hitch ride and escape to safe haven with everyone else." Shenhua said.

"Yeah? Well, you better have some cash on you, because this ain't no Sunday cruise." Revy said as she cracked the lid on the can of her beer.

"Starting offer?" Rotton asked.

"How much you got?" Revy asked.

Rotton just sighed, and laid the suitcase sitting down next to him on its side with his foot, before kicking it over to Revy.

"He may be too idealistic for his own good sometimes, but he make calculated decision to take what we could from mobster house and put them in suitcase he take with him from hideout." Shenhua explained.

"I left the credit cards and other personal belongings. Those things that were staying in the house _were_human once so I just took the cash out of the wallets and purses. I figured Lagoon would expect payment up front." he added.

"Well aren't you just a fucking saint?" Revy said, mocking the white haired gunman.

Opening the suitcase, she was rather disappointed to see it not packed to the max. "There can't be more than seventy-five grand here!" she snorted.

"Taking advantage of people in need?" Rotton complained.

"Look we don't run a fucking charity here. If this is all you can come up with then you have until the count of ten before I kick you out," Revy told him.

"Look, that's everything we have. You want more?" Rotton asked.

"Everything you have. Why don't I believe you?" Revy said with a smile that would have made Hannibal Lecter proud. "Rock pat 'em down."

"Oh, give them a break." Rock retorted. He was still trying to digest the absurdity of the situation, and the little stunt Revy had pulled before still had him unnerved, testy. "You're already getting a big fat paycheck from Balalaika, and we could use some-"

"You're a pussy, Rock. In a situation like this, any leverage we got should be _squeezed_ for everything it's got. They got more on them, I know it, and they'll pay up, or else."

"Last I checked, you didn't call the shots around here. Gonna try and take Dutch's position now?"

"Why don't you watch your fucking mouth, you little cunt?" Revy said, pushing her forehead up against Rock's, glaring him right in the eye. "I got no problem putting a bullet in your face if you're gonna be a sissy about this."  
>True to her word, Revy pushed the muzzle of her cutlass into Rock's neck, facing upwards. A push of the trigger, and it would go up through his jaw and into his brains.<p>

Very few people would have done much other than whimper at this point, but Rock was not most people, and he had a pretty good Revy-oriented bullshit radar.

"Go ahead. I _dare_ you."

"I'll do it."

"Pussy."

"Children, play nice." The cool, smooth, slightly accentuated voice had an instant effect on the entire room. Shenhua, Rotton and Sawyer instantly tried to look as if they were part of the furnishings. Eda decided that keeping quiet was the best course of action, and sat herself down at a chair, trying her best to look harmless.

Revy backed off, holstering her cutlass, and Rock- breathing a sigh of relief- turned to look at the new arrival.

There was no mistaking that elegant voice, which brought to mind a beautiful spring stream filled with razors: Balalaika had arrived, and she was flanked as always by her sergeant, as well as a number of Vysotniki.

"Revy, is this really a good time to be threatening to kill your boyfriend? There's a time for everything, but I do think you would find he's more worth to you alive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

"He's not my boyfr-" Revy began, but decided to shut up. Balalaika had a face on her like her dreams had come true, and her boots and the rims of her pants were soiled with blood. She was in uniform now, much unlike the elegant business woman's suit she usually wore. A Dragunov- the so-called _balalaika_ sniper rifle- and an Avtomat Kalashnikov -47 hung strapped to her back, and they looked as if they had been used recently.  
>She had declared war on everything opposing her, Revy realized, so staying on her good side might be best.<p>

"So sis, can I get you anything? Beer?"

"Just water, please. And don't be so greedy. Your _boyfriend_ is right, your ship will need a few extra hands."

"I'll get it." Rock was more than eager to get away from the slowly growing group of merciless killers, plus Rotton.

Revy sighed and rubbed the side of her head, "All right, fine. We'll take the deal, but you guys are on maintenance duty. What you lack in funds you make up for by being useful."

"Hey, I no housewife!" Shenhua jeered.

"No worries, I'll take care of it. You two can save your energy for all the fighting," Rotton volunteered.

Revy laughed heartily. "Now there's a guy who knows exactly what's expected of him. I like that. Chinglish, where'd you find this guy?"

"Oh, he find us actually. And he may seem cool, but he not all that great in fight. Sawyer and me make more killings than him on way here. I tell him before, he be better at pimp then gunman." Shenhua retorted.

"Well that still makes him more useful than your last partner." Revy chuckled.  
>At that moment Rock came back with Balalaika's water.<p>

"So sis, where's the rest of your group?" Revy asked.

Balalaika swallowed her drink and then said, "Dutch is helping them all pack our supplies and whatnot in the boat."

"So why the evacuation exactly?" Rock inquired, "I mean I've seen things getting back, but for you to be evacuating your whole team means things must really be going to hell fast."

Balalaika pulled out a cigar and lit it. She puffed out a cloud of smoke before answering.

"Judging by your refugee from the ripoff church I'm guessing that you've seen what it's like out there, so you know that things are already pretty bad. My boys and I had to clear out practically half the city getting here. I've learned a few things during the outbreak."

"Care to share?" Rock requested.

"Of course," Balalaika said, taking another puff. "First off, those things are respondent to sound. One gunshot," Balalaika clapped her hands, "And all of those creeps in the general area will be drawn to the noise, so make sure you don't miss. Second, they're blind. If you're real quiet, and they don't notice you, you can walk right past them without being in any danger."

"How'd you figure that out?" Rock asked.

"I had my suspicions when I saw their rotting eyes in my scope, and Dutch was willing to test my theory." Balalaika answered.

Rock gulped. The more likely scenario was that Balalaika had convinced Dutch to volunteer and Rock couldn't help but wonder how she had managed to strong arm Dutch into volunteering for something like that. After all, Dutch was helping the Vysotniki evacuate.

"So..." Rock managed to get out after getting over the shock of Balalaika's last statement, "anything else?"

"Only what's been observed on the vids. You get bitten, you become one of them. No exceptions, no second chances. The transformation may not be immediate, but it _will_ happen. All that considered, I'm not allowing my men to become victims of this disease. It's as simple as that." Balalaika answered.

"I hear where you're coming from," Revy spoke up, "Those things are virulent enough, but having access to on hand ammunition plus armour and we'd be in a fucking jam for sure."

Balalaika steady glance at Revy told the dual wielder it was best if she not make light jokes about her unit.

Eda was more than a little nervous now. She'd heard about the bites, how they turned people, she had even seen it up close- it was horrifying.

What confused her was how she had a carefully concealed bite more than two days old, and she didn't feel the least bit different. She had seen old Yolanda turn in less than a day, which had earned her a bullet between the eyes and a new, gilded hand cannon for Eda.  
>She herself had felt better after some beer and painkillers, and aside from a dull ache, she did not feel different at all. No nausea, no lack of consciousness, no vomiting her intestines out, no unstoppable desire to feast upon the flesh of the living…<p>

And now, Balalaika was here. She was afraid of her. Everyone besides the other major crime bosses were. Those who weren't ended up dead or terrified soon enough, because you don't fuck with the Russians and live to tell the tale. Especially not if that Russian was Balalaika.

Now, if she was found out, she would be deader than Steve Irwin in a tankfull of stingrays. Best keep her head down as much as possible. That woman didn't mess around.

"So when're we leaving, sis?" Revy asked. "I'm good to go. Got my shit packed, my money stashed away. I wouldn't mind kicking some infected ass on the way, but this whole mess is just gross. The sooner we get out to sea, the better."

"Patience, Revy. The Vysotniki are still moving out; we leave when I get radio confirmation we're the last ones left."

"You're shitting me!"

"No soldier gets left behind. The Lagoon Company's job is simply to drive the getaway boat. Other than that I expect every matter involving my men to be left up to my discretion. Is that clear?"  
>Balalaika spoke with exceptional clarity and her voice void of any emotion. The tone of which showed that if Revy said one more thing out of line, the predator would soon become the prey.<p>

The awkward silence in the room ended when Dutch entered from the side door entrance.

"Everything's packed up and ready to go. A couple of your men are straggling, but they said to give them no more than ten minutes. If they don't show up by then, we're to leave without them."

"I see," Balalaika said taking a puff of her cigar again. "Two hands, since you're so eager for some action, mind going out and giving my boys a hand?" Balalaika requested.

Just as always, Rock had to be not unlike an ant facing down a dragon. "Hey hold on just a second, you want Revy to go out there alone?" Rock questioned.

"I'll be fine. I'm not a pussy like you, Rock. I can handle myself. Let's go, Eda," Revy ordered.

"S-sure," Eda figured going out shooting flu victims with Revy was better than sticking around and hoping Balalaika didn't find out about the bite she was concealing.

Revy turned her attention to Rotton's group. "One of you comes along as well. If you're gonna make yourselves useful, you might as well start now."

The odd trio gave each other a look, and without a word being said, a furious, epic game of rock-paper-scissors began. It was amazing, Rock mused, how many times three people could manage to get the same symbol.

At long last, Rotton managed to win out, leaving the girls to one of the least exciting catfights in history. Eventually, Sawyer gambled on paper, and lost. Grumbling, she grabbed her chainsaw and got up, walking out the door along with Revy and Eda.

Rock stood by the door, hesitating. Finally mumbling a short prayer- "Fuck it all!"- he grabbed the lead pipe, and followed them out into the zombie infested area.

He almost lost them turning around a corner- he had to bash a stray infectee's head in on the way- and by the time he caught up, he wondered just where those soldiers would be. Had Balalaika sent them on a wild goose chase? Were they dead already?

No- the distinct bark of several AK-47 rounds could be heard just down the street. Controlled bursts firing rapidly, with discipline far above normal hoodlums. Had to be them.

Rock looked around him. The infectees were everywhere, wandering about, but so long as they were more than thirty feet away, they didn't seem to notice them, so long as they kept moving. Occasionally, one would get too close, try to take a bite out of Revy, who had taken point, but apparently she had taken Balalaika's advice about guns seriously; she would cut down the zombies with a machete she had grabbed from their storage rather than relying on her cutlass special.

The group finally managed to get a clear visual of the stragglers. There were two of them, and even with the timely arrival of Revy, Rock, Eda and Sawyer, the group was outnumbered ten to one by the number of infectees swarming about. Of course numbers meant absolutely nothing when the few had enough firepower to turn a beached German world war two U-boat into an abstract piece of artwork in less than ten seconds.

"And cue the end of the silence," Revy said with a grin before whipping out her cutlass specials and opening fire. Following Revy's lead, Eda drew out the hand cannon she had taken from Yolanda.

Sawyer revved up her chainsaw and joined the fray, leaving Rock standing there, feeling like he may as well turn back while he still had the chance. The loud moan of a zombie attempting to ambush him from behind put an end to that option, and Rock, frantically an instinctively, bashed its head in before taking up arms against the horde.

The battle was simple, but the only problem was that the noise being generated from the discharge of the firearms, and Sawyer's chainsaw, was calling over more infected victims than there originally had been; many of the living dead that the quartet had passed on the way over were becoming attracted to the noise. Even so, the fight didn't take long, what with Revy and Balalaika's men mowing down the undead faster than a NASCAR racer finishing a single lap.

Revy was trigger-happy, letting loose into the oncoming horde with gleeful abandon, while Eda was making every shot count. Sawyer, on the other hand, had to close to her targets before giving them a taste of her chainsaw. Rock had to do the same as the chainsaw lolita, but he was far less willing to get within close range of those creatures. Unlike the others, Rock still had a sense of fear. He wanted the undead to be put down just as much as the next guy, but that didn't detract from the fear he felt at get within biting range. He was not becoming one of them. He refused.

Swallowing down his fear, he lashed out at an infectee that had somehow evaded the gunfire long enough to close in. Its skull caved with a gratifying crunch, and though it might just have been adrenaline coursing through his veins, Rock felt a little better.  
>He wasn't much of a fighter, but he'd crush any stray zombie trying to get his companions from behind.<p>

Usually in zombie fiction, humans are portrayed as powerless to resist an oncoming horde of undead, their nails and teeth ripping apart any unlucky survivor caught in the open. However, zombie fiction does not normally portray people who are as used to killing as they are to drinking hard liquor, and the difference showed. Within minutes, the bodies were piled up, zombies lying dead in droves.

Sawyer did a danse macabre with a grotesque, eerie beauty to it; she moved in a way that no rational person wielding a chainsaw should, but her wide, controlled swings kept the brunt of the oncoming infectees at bay, maiming and severing right and left.

Soon, all nearby zombies were dead or otherwise incapacitated. Revy turned to the two surviving soldiers.

"You the boys Balalaika sent us to pick up?"

"Kapitan sent you?" The first one, a tall, scarred man said in heavily accented English. "Thank god for that one. We were afraid she did not make it."

"Wait, are you two all that's left?" Rock cut in. He knew Balalaika valued her men, but risking their lives for two soldiers who were apparently doing fine so far?

"There three more was." The second one said, in barely understandable English. "Ilya- he take fall from roof. They eat him alive. Ivan- he save our lives from horde. Die hero. Kolya- he on ground over there. He get bite on arm, eats bullet. We all that's left. Everyone else, gone or dead."

"Well, we might as well get back then before Sis coerces Dutch into leaving without us." Revy said, holstering her cutlass specials. The was no disagreement.

The group made it back to Lagoon Company without much trouble aside from two straggling undead on the way back, swiftly dispatched by Revy's machete.  
>Upon their arrival at headquarters, Dutch was bringing a bunch of stuff on board the boat with Rotton's help.<p>

"Hey Dutch! I thought you got all of Balalaika's guys gear on board!" Revy called out to him.

"I did. This is our stuff. You guys were gone fifteen minutes. Five minutes ago Balalaika said she wanted to be ready to leave the moment you got back. Everyone else is already on board," Dutch answered.

His words were followed by a thunderous boom across the horizon. "Sounds like a storm's brewing." Eda commented.

"Yeah, and to make matters worse we need to cruise right into it. If it starts to get real bad, I'll signal for everyone to head below deck," Dutch stated.

"Wait. Is it really a good idea to head out to sea during a storm? What about the tide?" Rock asked.

"It's either that or wait another day with these freaks. Personally, I'll sooner take my chances with the storm." Eda responded to Rock's question.

"Not only that, but we're getting paid to go out tonight." Dutch reminded Rock. "So hop aboard so we can get going."

"Great," Rock lamented. He and the others got up onto the ship. Dutch pulled the boat out of the harbor, and then headed out. The sky began to darken with ominous storm clouds, and the wind began to pick up. Another boom of thunder echoed through the air.  
>Rock stood on the stern of the ship, wind blowing fiercely in his face. He saw the swaying palm trees as the torpedo boat passed by a small island. He watched Roanapur disappear from the horizon.<br>He heard approaching footsteps as Revy leaned over the side of the rail next to him.

"This really is some heavy shit, innit?" She said flatly, looking out over the ruined city of Roanapur. She wasn't the most articulate of people, but Rock felt her words summed up the situation better than any explanation. "Heavy shit" indeed.

Rock had a strange feeling in his gut. Not fear; he felt safe on the boat, but it was like a lump in his stomach gnawing at him. Roanapur, in all its decadent, fallen glory, had been a home to him once he had decided to abandon his stiff old life as an office rat, where his entire life had seemed to go as firmly in one direction as a railroad. Roanapur had changed that, Roanapur and Revy together, and now he might never see the town again.  
>He never thought he'd feel nostalgic over this Sodom and Gomorrah, but he couldn't help himself.<p>

"Yeah… heavy shit." He mumbled back.

"Cheer up, fuckwad." Revy said, but her tone was friendly. "We're makin' a shit ton of cash, and as soon as we're through that storm, we'll be perfectly safe, chilling at Sis' safehouse for a few weeks till this blows over."

Watching Roanapur burn in the twilight, Rock was not exactly uplifted. The city was quickly getting smaller, disappearing from his sight. He wondered why Revy was this friendly; she hadn't exactly been happy with him just a few hours earlier.  
>To himself, he swore. There was just no figuring this woman out!<p>

At last, he replied:  
>"This isn't just going to 'blow over', Revy. It's the end of the world as we know it."<p>

"And I feel fine." Revy said, shooting him a grin. "Look, don't sweat it- people like Sis, like us, we fuckin' prosper in times like these. We're hard. And when the rotters are all gone, only the real badasses will be left, and humanity'll be stronger for it. Besides, if you look at how fast those fuckers rot, they should be fertilizer in a month."

Rock opened his mouth to shoot back an angry retort, but stopped himself. She was making an unusual amount of sense. Gloomily, he looked out at the ocean.

Before long, Dutch's voice was heard:  
>"Everybody, get under deck. We got some rough weather ahead."<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: And that's a wrap for now. Next chapter will have the actual High School of the Dead cast coming into the picture hopefully. Please review and let us know how we're doing. Even if it's just a message to tell us how awesome we are XD)**


	3. Storm of the Dead

**(A/N: Hey guys sorry for the wait. We are back! I've been updating another fic of mine for the longest time so that's what took this chapter so long. Ready? Here we go!)**

Disclaimer: High School of the Dead and Black Lagoon copyright their respective owners

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere in Japan<strong>

Having survived the night, with a new companion in tow, Takashi and his friends, plus the school nurse Shizuka Marikawa, had taken a Humvee into the river to cross it to the other side of town. With all the bridges blockaded off, it was imperative that they find another means to get across. As Kohta had pointed out, the river was currently low tide, and Shizuka had found a raft button on her friend's Humvee so the group was traversing the shallow river to the other side. However, as they crossed, Kohta, who was sitting on the roof with a pair of binoculars for signs of them, noticed that they were slowly drifting down shore. He looked in the opposite direction, towards the bridge they were drifting away from and saw storm clouds off in the distance.

Takashi climbed out from down below and sat next to his friend and classmate. "What's up Hirano?" he asked.

"See that?" Kohta pointed to the storm clouds as he let Takashi view through one of the lenses.

"Yeah, looks like a storm's brewing." Takashi responded.

"With the way the clouds are formed it probably won't reach us here. It'll stay in the Pacific and disperse up north towards Alaska across the International Date Line." Kohta informed. "However, it's pushing the Humvee down the river."

"Where do you think the storm's originating?" Takashi asked.

"You got me, but I'd say anyone leaving Russia by boat would be in a real jam." Kohta stated.

"Hey!" Saya poked her head out from within the vehicle. "We didn't ask you to keep watch and be Mr. Meteorologist! You're supposed to be watching for 'Them' remember?"

"Right, sorry Takagi-san." Kohta apologized.

"Why don't you take a break?" Takashi offered. "I'll keep a look out for a while and then we'll switch back."

"Sure thing." Kohta said and went back into the vehicle to catch twenty winks as he passed his binoculars to the black haired youth.

* * *

><p><strong>Somewhere off the coast of Roanapur<strong>

It had gone to all hell only half an hour after Dutch had told everyone to get below deck. The Lagoon was a sturdy boat, and it had endured its fair share of storms, but this was something else. The blasted thing had raged for an entire week before slowly dying down- over several days, of course- and it had nearly capsized god knew how many times.

It pissed Revy off something incredible to feel this helpless, this left out to the whims of nature, to a force so powerful that she was an ant next to a giant, wholly insignificant. She could only wait for it to die down and rely on Dutch's skill. The helplessness made her _angry_.

When it did die down, they had been thrown so far off course, it was impossible to tell where they were. There was only water, from horizon to horizon. The fuel was running low, and though supplies were not much a problem- the Vysotniki duo had, only hours after the seas had calmed, put long lines out and in short order caught a marlin, soon cut up, gutted and prepared for eating- they were reduced to drifting until they had the slightest idea where to go.

If they turned the engine on without knowing where to go, they might easily end up going deeper out at sea- so drifting it was. Fortunately, the water supplies had survived the storm just fine; they could last weeks.

And weeks it took, too- so long that many of the crew had begun losing hope. But as the situation became more desperate, finally there was the cry of "Land ho!" from Rotton, who had lookout duty at the time. After it was confirmed that it was not some heat-induced hallucination, Dutch finally risked starting up the battered engine, steering towards the barely visible coastline. Where they were, he had no idea- only that they were far from the isolated safehouse Balalaika had prepared. Oh well…

The sky had remained as dark and dreary as Revy's typical attitude and showed signs of getting progressively worse. As the Lagoon sputtered towards its desired destination, a crack of thunder sounded.

"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me." Revy grumbled.

The waters became turbulent fast, and the rain came pouring down like coins out of a lotto machine that had just hit the jackpot. As if that wasn't bad enough, lightning began to flash, and it was rather close; so close that Rock had nearly been blinded by the first bolt. Thankfully, Dutch's thick shades had kept him from being the least bit disturbed by the lightning.

"Dutch, maybe we should stop the boat. If we try to fight the tide we'll get shipwrecked for sure." Rock panicked.

"We have to go for it." Benny responded. "Who knows when we're going to find another spot to land?"

"Well yeah but…" Rock was cut off by a wave crashing against the port side of the torpedo boat, shaking the entire seaworthy vessel.

"Come on, girl," Dutch spoke to the boat, "Don't quit on me now."

In their own shared room Revy and Eda were recovering from the turbulent wave that had hit the boat earlier.

"So Eda, is this everything you signed up for?" Revy joked.

"Yes, I was so looking forward to stormy waters and getting cast off course to the point where we could drown in the Pacific Ocean." Eda returned sarcastically. "I can't believe I said I'd rather take my chances with the storm then get eaten by those fucking flu freaks."

"Well, it's one hell of a party." Revy said, giving one of her best shit-eating grins. "You may pussy out for some good hard action, but I love it because I am a badass motherfucker... bitch."

"Big words for the psycho freak out who had to be held down and talked sweet by her precious Big Sis." Eda shot back. "Some badass pirate you are, miss Revy 'I'll throw up across the rails for several hours' Two-hands!"

"HEY!" Revy exclaimed. "I was not sea-sick and..."

"And what?" Eda said, mocking.

"And SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Revy said, with all the sophistication of a sexually frustrated baboon.

"Oooh, buurn. Gee, that one really stung. Has Watsup been teaching you about razor wit and sharp comebacks?"

Revy sat quiet for half a minute, keeping the rage back. _Now is not the time to lose it_, she told herself. _There's ass to kick and money to be made, even if Eda's a bitch_.

"Look," she said at last, "would you really wanna be back in Roanapur? We're all of us alive, we've got guns and supplies, and as soon as we land, fix up the boat, we'll be on our way back. Simple shit."

"...I guess you're right." Eda said somberly. "Still... this is all so fucked up, Revy. Everything…everything's gone to hell. Makes you think God just decided to fuck us all over, and-"

Before she could finish, Revy had slapped her across the face. Not a weak-willed girl's slap, but the kind that shook your head and rocked your thoughts.

"Cheer. The fuck. Up." Revy said, her voice deadpan. "If I hear one more word about imaginary bullshit like 'God' or some shit like that, I'll plaster your brains to the wall, I swear to... well, Mammon. This includes Allah, Buddha, unicorns and the Flying Spaghetti Monster, got it? If you give in to thinking some big daddy in the sky's punishing us, you're giving in to that fire and brimstone bullshit that the fucking zealots are preaching, and that's just fear. You might as well lie down and die if you go that way."

"R-right." Eda said, shocked. Revy was so uncharacteristically serious- had the plague changed her too? "It's just so..."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is. And you gotta decide for yourself if that's something you wanna go lie down and die for, or if you wanna live. It ain't harder than so. Me, I wanna live, and I wouldn't mind if you survived with me."

Surprised, Eda just nodded. This was closer to a declaration of friendship than Revy had ever gotten.

"Good." Revy said. "Now let's get topside. I think they're gonna try and dock the ship.

What Revy didn't know was how heavy of emphasis the word 'try' was on her statement. Dutch was fighting so fiercely against the storm, but he would've had a better chance of trying to singlehandedly stop American anime dubbing companies from screwing over really good anime. As Revy and Eda came up from down below, Rotton was coming down the ladder into the boat, staying on deck was becoming too much of a hazard.

Balalaika was already with the rest of the Lagoon Company watching Dutch's survivalist effort to land the ship. "Do you have any idea where we are?" Balalaika asked.

"Not a clue, I can't run the GPS or any of the high tech systems we got on this thing. That last storm took almost all of the ship's power. If we're going to fight this I have to keep all of the ship's power running on the engine." Dutch responded.

"What are the odds?" Balalaika wanted to know. She was already rather irritated, though she didn't show it, that Mother Nature had decided to be a bitch and throw the boat so far off course and whip it around like a child's bath toy.

"Not a clue, but I'd say they're definitely not in our favor." Benny replied.

"Wonderful." Balalaika was less than thrilled at hearing that one.

"There has to be something we can do though right?" Rock needed to cling to some form of hope.

"Rock there is absolutely nothing we can do." Revy said as coldly as possible. "We are at the mercy of the forces of nature and all we can do is just see if Dutch can land the boat, we get lucky and the storm goes away, or if the boat capsizes and we all drown, die or wash up on shore. It's a waiting game so you might as well grab a seat and enjoy the experience." Revy planted her ass on a crate and pulled out a cigarette. "Hey sis, got a light?" Balalaika tossed Revy a lighter and she lit up her smoke.

"All right everyone, hang on!" Dutch said loud and clear, and started the engine. "I'm going to try and find a city, maybe there's a port-"

"Belay that order." Balalaika said. "If we land in a port, we'll be arriving into the exact same situation we left only much worse off- fewer supplies, more infected."

"Hate to break it to you, but we don't have a choice. We're running out of fuel, and our only other option is crashing on the shores. We could lose all our supplies-"

"That wasn't a suggestion." Balaika's voice was icy cold.

"I'm captain of this ship." Dutch said, holding his ground. "And you're a passenger. We need to risk a port, even if there's a shit ton of zombies waiting."

Revy's cigarette dropped out of her mouth. Had Dutch just committed suicide? She knew he had balls, but standing up to Balalaika...

Without even hesitating, Balalaika pulled up a Magnum from her side, and shot Dutch twice between the eyes. With a gesture, she ordered two Vysotniki to dump his body in the ocean...  
>Revy shook her head. No, Dutch was still alive- why had that just happened only in her head? It should have happened in real life, too.<p>

With excitement, she watched as seconds passed- what would she do? Shoot him? Stab him in the balls? Torture him for talking back to her?

"...I suppose you are right, Captain." Balalaika said. "But if any of my men are hurt, you are not getting paid."

Revy gaped. Had she just seen what she thought she saw? Had all this been happening in her head, and Dutch getting shot been the real thing? She closed her eyes, opened them again, and no, Dutch was... still driving the ship.

What Revy didn't know was that Balalaika, for all her warhawk tendencies and love for violence was above all a pragmatic- quite unlike Revy, she had her head screwed on tightly, and she knew Dutch had a point. She could kill him, but it would be bad blood for the rest, and tension was already high. She was not in a situation where she could execute people at will; she was not at present in charge of a mafia wing in a functioning city.

So, she let Dutch have his way. There would be loot to find, hopefully, and there was no harm in letting him search for a city for a while. They were still close enough to coast for her to override his plan of action if she changed her mind.

The storm grew progressively worse the closer Dutch got to shore.

"Oh fuck!" Dutch swore.

"Dutch, what is it?" Rock asked.

"Well, either night just fell before sunset or I need a new pair of sunglasses." Dutch responded.

Rock rushed to look outside. A really big shadow was overcast upon the Lagoon's torpedo boat. This was the kind of tidal wave that could give the size of the cascade of Niagara Falls a run for its money. The wave swallowed the small boat like it was a particle of dust being sucked up by a vacuum. The water pressure burst the hulls wide open and everyone was thrown underwater.  
>Rock had no idea how to respond to the chaos going on around him. Dutch and Balalaika were shouting orders and systems were going haywire, but all Rock could hear was the drumming of his own heart inside his head. He felt something grab his shoulder. He caught a glimpse of Revy before the entire inside of the ship was submerged in the water.<p>

Rock was tossed aside by the waves, and pulled so far underwater that his head started to hurt from the pressure on his skull. He felt something drag him up. He came up above the waves for air. Revy had used all of her strength to pull the helpless Rock to the surface and passed out from lack of oxygen. Rock, to keep Revy from sinking back into the ocean, looped his arms underneath her shoulders and tread water to keep them both above the surface.

"Thanks, Revy." He spoke to the passed out gunslinger. "I owe you one." He looked around. There was no sign of the torpedo boat, Dutch, Benny, Balalaika, the Vysotniki, or Eda. The only thing around was a small yellow life raft floating along the turbulent waters. In it were Rotton, Shenhua and Sawyer.

"You know, this not what I sign up for." Shenhua complained. "Mother Nature being real bitch today, you know?"

Rotton took one look at the unconscious Revy and reached down to Rock to help him and the gunslinger into the raft.

"Thanks." Rock said gratefully.

"You think of everything." Shenhua said to the genre savvy gunman. "I take back what I say all trip about how inflatable raft you blow in our room in the way."

Rock realized something. The Lagoon boat didn't have an emergency raft. "Where did you get that, anyway?

"I've been watching the weather reports." Rotton responded. "When I heard we going offshore I thought to grab a portable inflatable raft and stuck it in my jacket. When we hit that first storm patch I thought we might need to abandon ship and well…you know the rest.

"So now what?" Rock asked. His question was answered by another monstrous shadow as another large tidal wave rose up to swallow the puny raft. "Oh fu—"

Rock's mouth was filled with sea water before he could finish his sentence.

Somewhat miraculously, the little raft did no capsize. Rotton had held his balance, and paddled like a maniac. In comparison to the wave that had swetp the Lagoon away, this wave was pretty small- still large enough to send them flying, but not quite careening them.

Rock could hear Rotton shouting over the storm- "HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT!"- paddling, steering. Deciding not to just sit around, Rock grabbed the other oar and started paddling. To himself, he felt amazed at how useful Rotton had been- the man had seemed like a fish out of water in Roanapur- couldn't stand alcohol, pretended to be a badass gunslinger when he was, at best, a wannabe... and here he was, holding them all up.

Suddenly, as soon as it had come, the wave had passed. The sea was still uneasy, waves making the raft go up and down, but they were not in any immediate danger. Looking around him quickly, he looked out for more tidal waves- none.

He saw one more thing- the coast was closer now. The wave had taken them far in; he could see the surges, the waves smashing onto the coastline.

"Everyone, be prepared!" Rotton shouted. "We're gonna crash, so we need to crash properly or we're all fish food!"

What exactly that meant, Rock wasn't sure, but he paddled onwards. Getting off sea would be VERY desirable now. Then he saw what Rotton had meant- reefs. If they didn't manage to find a spot to get through, their raft would rip and they would be smashed to bits. Cursing, he paddled on.

Rotton stopped paddling and looked at the coast through a pair of binoculars he took out of his jacket pocket. "What the hell are you doing?" Rock asked.

"Keep doing what you're doing. Paddling in place is our best option right now." Rotton told him.

"What make you say that?" Shenhua asked.

"There's a river leading into the city and a bridge I can just barely make out off to the Northeast If we can generate enough rotational for when the next wave hits us it'll give us enough spin far away from the reef patch and, if we're lucky we can paddle until we're in the shallows straight through the river." Rotton explained.

"You really know your stuff." Rock was amazed at how useful Rotton was being.

"Survival is a habit. You look at your options and you do your best to make sure that, if you're going to fail, you fail with your life and limbs intact." Rotton declared.

"And what happen if this not go so smoothly?" Shenhua wanted to know.

"Well one of two other things could happen. If we don't get enough spin we'll crash on edge of the reefs and at that point it's sink or swim. The other thing that could happen is that we get too much spin and we the raft will overturn and we'll have to hold onto it while we direct it towards shore. If we're lucky we'll be only about four meters from shore if that happens." Rotton explained.

Rock took a deep breath. With Revy unconscious he wasn't exactly fond of the other two options. Taking a deep breath he began to paddle in a circle.

Time seemed to slow as the waves carried them closer and closer to land. He paddled away, but somehow it didn't seem to matter- the waves were so strong, carrying them inwards no matter what he did, no matter what direction... exhausted and frustrated, he paused.

"All right, stop paddling." Rotton said. Rock looked up. What was- "On my mark, you have to paddle as hard as you can, you got it?" Rotton was dead serious. "Work the water so hard it feels like your arms fall off, got it?" Rock nodded. Whatever he was doing, he was perfectly content to trust Rotton. So far, he had been much better at survival than any one of them.

"All right... easy... not yet, not yet..." Rotton mumbled. The reef came closer, ever closer, as the waves carried them. Rotton steered them best he could with his oar; Rock only held his breath. "Wait for it...wait for it...NOOOOW!" Rotton roared.

Jumping at the command, Rock started paddling to the very best of his ability. Determination and desperation mixed, and his muscles powered the oar into the water over and over, speeding them forward. Rotton had done the same, and just as the reef came upon them... a massive wave came from behind, catching the raft and lifting them over the sharp rock edges.

"Keep paddling!" Rotton shouted. "We're not done till we're out of the waves!"

Rock kept paddling and paddling till his muscles burned- and slowly, the waves began to lessen, as the reef behind them broke the worst of the aquatic chaos. It struck Rock that Rotton had not only prepared a raft, but also timed exactly when that wave would help them over the reef. He was a fish out of water in Roanapur, but the man obviously was in his right element here.

"All right, we can relax for now." Rotton said. The coast stretch fell into a river, and the current let them drift quietly into it as the rain started quieting down. Rock lay back, pulled out a half soaked pack of cigarettes, and managed to light one with some effort. Sighing, he relaxed for the time being.

However, he perked right back up and nearly choked on his cigarette when he recognized the bridge the small raft was just about to pass under. "I know where we are."

"Oh this be good. Where are we, Mr. Tour Guide?" Shenhua asked.

"This is…Japan. There's no doubt about it, we're in Japan!" Rock cried out.

Rotton pulled down on his hat. "The storm carried us pretty far south." He commented. Rock was content to agree.  
>He was alerted to the sound of coughing, which never sounded so pleasant to Rock, despite the fact that it sounded about as soothing as two vultures fighting a fox for a piece of meat. However, the coughing meant that Revy was waking up.<p>

The awoken gun slinger sat up and rubbed her head. "Oh the sleeping bitch awakes." Shenhua teased.

"Ugh, why am I hearing your annoying voice Chinglish?" Revy complained, having not opened her eyes yet, or adjusted to her surroundings.

"Revy, are you ok?" Rock asked her.

"Just fucking peachy, Rock." Revy responded, but truth be told she was glad at hearing his voice; it meant her rescue attempt hadn't failed. She opened her eyes and blinked out the seawater and took in her surroundings. She dipped her hands into the water and splashed her face before shaking off the excess seawater like a dog having come inside from the rain.

"So where'd the giant floating banana come from?" Revy asked.

"Rotton had it on him and ready to go before the boat…before it…" Rock was finding it hard to finish his sentence. Reality was only now hitting him. The Lagoon's boat had been swallowed up by the sea. Dutch, Benny, Balalaika, Eda, and the Vysotniki they were all…gone. Rock had been so caught up in surviving the storm that reality hadn't registered in his brain until now and it was hammering down upon his skull like happy pyromaniac goblins around a fire pit.

"Befo' what?" Revy said, shaking herself awake.

"Look, the Lagoon... it went under. There was this massive tidal wave, and..." His words stuck in his throat as he tried to speak. "Revy, they might be... they, they are probably-"

Revy's hand shot out, and grabbed Rock by the collar. "Don't you fucking say it, Rock. Don't even fucking think it. Sis, Dutch, Benny, the others... they're okay."

"But the storm-"

"They are OKAY." Revy's tone brooked no disagreement whatsoever. "They are fine and dandy, probably roasting another marlin over an open fire, with Sis and her soldiers keeping guard for infectees. They are hardcore, badass sonsabitches, Rock, and some pansy ass storm is NOT gonna be the end of them." She let go of his shirt, pushing him back.

"R-right." Rock said. Yes, why not? They could all be fine, just waiting for them...  
>The image of the wave swallowing down the lagoon like a speck of dust came back to him. No, best not to think of it... they could know nothing for sure till they had confirmation of either death or survival. Better to focus on the present, try to survive. The last thing they needed was Revy going off the deep end (again), and if she though Balalaika had died... he didn't want to think about the results.<p>

"So this is Japan, huh?" Revy said. "Well, let's dock somewhere, raid the local stores for food and supplies, and get to finding Sis and the others again."

With great care, Rotton steered the raft towards a safe landing site.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: That's all for now folks. We know Takashi and the others only had a small, rather insignificant part, in this chapter, but hey at least this confirms that this is a crossover. Also Blekmedelninjan and I, as authors, reserve the right not to comment about anything. And that includes whether or not Dutch and the others are alive or dead. So speculate all you want, we will not tell you ANYTHING. With that said: oh wow Rotton is actually useful? The world really has turned on its head lol. Anyway next chapter worlds collide and the series starts to really pick up. Later).**


	4. Swarm of the Dead

**(A/N: Hey, hey, hey folks. This is draconichero20 and I'm about to bring to you the next chapter of Lagoon of the Dead. Let's kick it off)**

Disclaimer: Highschool of the Dead and Black Lagoon copyright their respective owners

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** Person pov**

Finally woken, and with Rock exhausted, Revy strenuously paddled the raft she and the others were in down the river. The group of five finally got to a shallow part where the water level was too low for the raft to float so Rotton and Revy got out of the raft and pushed onto shore where upon Rotton deflated the thing, folded it up and pocketed it. He figured it might come in handy at another point in time.

As the group took in their surroundings they took notice of a small group of people not too far from their location. To make things more interesting, said group had a Humvee. From somewhere in the depths of his trench coat, Rotton pulled out some binoculars.

"What do you see?" Rock asked.

"I see two guys, a tall slim one and a plump one. There are three women and a girl." He observed and then muttered. "Look at the sizes on them." He whistled to himself. "There's also a small dog among them. Save for one of the women most of them look like they should be in high school. The woman looks like she's about ten years older than them. The girl looks like she should be in elementary school."

"So, what we do? Kill them all and take their stuff?" Shenhua asked.

"Hey, this isn't Roanapur anymore. We can't just go killing random people." Rock blurted out.

Revy held him up by his collar. "Listen Rock, the world's gone straight to hell. Japan's been hit by that fucking flu to remember? I swear that if you keep acting charitable to everyone we come across I will fucking kill you! Got it?"

Grabbing Revy right back of her collar- or what there was to grab- Rock sneered back at her:

"This is a god damn _apocalypse_, Revy. We can't afford to just kill everyone we meet! We all need to stick together, or we're zombie feed! Right now, we're all stranded in a god dam foreign country, we lost more than half our group to god knows where, we're low on supplies and ammo, and we have no idea where to find any GOD-DAMN-KIND-OF-SHELTER! Wanna kill 'em? Fine. Go ahead, you trigger-happy dumbass bitch!"

"It's like they are a real couple already." Sawyer commented, the sarcasm dripping through her mechanical voice.

"They just should get over selves and fuck." Shenhua commented.

Takashi put the flat of his hand over his forehead, trying to block out the sun. There was a group of survivors just down the street, but... all of them looked rather strange. All of them had gotten out of the Humvee, to change clothes and hadn't gotten back in just yet. Rei and Saya were already chatting away, commenting what good luck it was to find more people had survived.

And yes, it was inspiring hope in Takashi too whenever he saw that there were people that had successfully survived "them", but the look of these survivors made him doubtful. They were talking loudly (didn't they know that you had to keep your voice down, or _they_ might come?) in some language that was definitely not Japanese- English, he thought. He had never been all that good at languages.

They looked like the strangest bunch of ragtag misfits, like hoodlums; the leading figure was a tattooed, fierce-looking redheaded woman with an outfit he would have thought belonged in strip club. Next to her, an oddly out of place man- white collar, but arguing fiercely to the red-head.  
>Behind them stood a relaxed woman in some... Chinese dress, a black-haired girl with a soaked dress that looked way too elegant for a chaotic place like this, and a creepy looking woman with her hair sticking out in every direction, and finally, a quiet, tall man in a trench coat.<br>Judging from the composure he carried himself with, Takashi decided he was probably the leader.

So what to do? On the one hand, there was safety in numbers, but on the other hand, these people looked like gang bangers. Dangerous, gun-wielding gangers.

Before he could decide, the red-head decided for him, walking up to them with the white collar in tow.

"Yo, you speaky english, chinky? You hear what I'm saying?"

"I... understand." Takashi replied, placing his words with care. He could speak english, but it usually wasn't all that good. "Don't come closer. Who are you?" He readied the shotgun. With Hirano and his rifle next to him, he could handle them. She had two handguns, he saw, but they weren't even drawn. He nodded to Hirano, who nodded back and held his automatic rifle up, ready for conflict.

The red-head just grinned, like she had seen something funny.

"I said, who are you?" He demanded.

"You kiddies are just too adorable." the red-head said, grinning like a cat before a bird with a broken wing. "Look at you, almost all grown up, holding a shotgun like you've got the balls to fire it!" She chuckled. "You won't shoot anybody with the safety on, by the way."

Takashi cursed. He was not very familiar with guns, and Kohta had only just now shown him how to work the shotgun this morning. Struggling, he undid the safety and aimed it at her.

"That's just too cute." She said, seeming completely unimpressed. "When you're face to face with a gunslinger, you better be damn sure you can take 'em, or your ass is grass. You're just a kid and OH MY GOD, IS THAT A ZOMBIE?"

Despite himself, Takashi jerked, looking to his left, out over the street. Empty.

What happened next took less than three seconds, and it shocked Takashi and left Kohta completely in awe. Revy launched herself into the air, going into a spin, rolling over the ground and under the aim of the two high schoolers; closing the distance in a heartbeat, drawing her guns before she had even gotten up. She flipped onto her feet, and rose without slowing down, and had crossed her hands, now pressing the barrels of her cutlasses onto their throats.

"Sayonara."

_Click. Click._

…

…

Nothing happened. Revy drew back her guns and looked at them. "What the fuck is wrong with these things?" she cursed. Rock wiped his brow thankful no one had died…yet.

Hirano adjusted his glasses, taking note at Revy's frustration trying to see what was wrong with her guns. He took note of how the redhead and the white collared guy with her seemed as if they had recently been soaked to the bone. "You know seawater is bad for guns. If you don't clean them out when they get wet, they don't work properly."

"And just how would a jelly roll like you know anything about how guns work?" Revy asked with a sneer. She knew what he was saying was true, but she didn't want to admit it. She figured the salt water must've dug itself into her cutlasses from when she had been submerged in the ocean. Growling she got out a cloth and began cleaning her guns. Rock took advantage of this reprieve and spoke to the two young men Revy had nearly killed.

"Don't mind her." Rock spoke in Japanese to Takashi and Kohta. "She's easily riled up."

"Oh, you speak Japanese." Takashi was glad someone could speak his language.

"I'm originally from Japan." Rock replied. "I'm Rock and this is Revy." He pointed over his shoulder towards the rest of his group. "Back there is Rotton, Sawyer and Shenhua. The five of us were originally with a larger group out on a boat to a safe house because the city of Roanapur is under attack by those green flu victims. We got shipwrecked, but the five of us managed to get ashore somehow."

"Well our situation isn't much better." Takashi replied. "Our school got overrun by those…things. I'm Komuro Takashi and his is Hirano Kohta." He pointed at the rest of the group who was using the Humvee as a shield, though Saeko was more or less waiting for a chance to jump in on the action. Takashi pointed to his red-haired Ex-girlfriend. "That's Miyamoto Rei." He pointed to his pink haired and pigtailed childhood friend. "Takagi Saya." He pointed to the tall blue haired girl with the wooden sword. "Busujima Saeko." He pointed to the blonde woman. "Marikawa Shizuka my school's nurse." He pointed to the small girl. "And that's Marisato Alice. We rescued her from 'them' last night." The small dog next to Takashi and Kohta began barking. "Oh and this is Zeke." With the introductions out of the Takashi put on a serious look. "For the record, I seriously doubt all of this is the cause of a virus. We've just been calling those creatures 'them' because we're not using that other word."

Before anyone could say anything else the sound of a gunshot jarred everyone. Revy had fired a single bullet into the ground. "There, fixed." She said. She stood up and grinned, weapons at the ready. "Now where were we?"

"Forget where we were. We should find a safe place we can go." Rock stated. "We should really get going-"

There was a low, lame groan from their right, and from over the side of the street above the slope near them, three zombies had walked out.

"Shit!" Rock cursed. "Somebody, get them!"

Hopping to it, Shenhua swung about her rope knife, expertly lashing out. Three swings, and the fragile necks of the infectees had been cut, their bodies falling limp to the ground.

"Just great, Revy. Nice going. You just HAD to fire that one bullet, and attract more of those things?" Rock snapped, tired and strained from the hardships they had been through.

"Don't be such a dick about it." Revy snapped back. "It's common sense to test a gun when you've cleaned it!"

The two began arguing, their loud voices echoing across the empty street.

"Uhm, not to interrupt, but... natives is getting restless!" Shenhua shouted. And indeed, more of the infectees were streaming down the slope near the street by the river's edge. Several more were coming up the river bed where Rock and the others had just come from and more still were coming from under the bridge towards the group.

"Hold your fire!" Rotton shouted. He took a second look, and after looking around him a little, he paled. "Never mind! Open fire, everyone who can!"

"Takashi, get the side street!" Kouhta yelled. He had dropped to his knee, and had begun picking off the horde approaching from the river's northern end, whittling down their numbers.  
>Takashi nodded, and ran- but he was blocked by the black-haired girl... Sawyer? She put a small device to her neck, and said mechanically:<p>

"Just leave this end to me." Pulling her chainsaw up, starting it- Takashi marvelled he hadn't noticed it before- she just took a stance, readying herself for the coming assault, Shenhua backing her up.

Revy had opened up on the south end of the river with a face like a child on christmas eve. The infectees fell by the dozen, but more still came. Sneering, Revy took a molotov cocktail out of her jacket- especially saved for an occasion like this- lit it, and tossed it at the oncoming horde. Oblivious to the danger the sea of fire presented, most of the infected walked right into it, collapsing after a few steps, Revy picking off the stragglers at the sides. Rotton was doing his best to help, although perhaps one in three bullets he fired would connect.

Still... looking at the scene, Rock knew this would be the end of them. Infected from three ways, more and more coming- and escpae wasn't really an option; they would need clear space for that- this was going to go to hell. Revy was down to two clips, slamming her second to last ones in place. Sawyer, while holding her ground, would eventually be overwhelmed. Shit! SHIT!

Well, now was the only time to see if this would work...

"Everyone, to the car! NOW" Rock roared. Taking Revy by the arm, he dragged her towards it. Reluctantly, she folowed.

Getting out a lighter, Rock took a small object from out his pocker. Lighting the fuse, pressing a button, he the the explosive.

"You know, just one grenade isn't gonna do it." Revy said.

"Just wait."

Sailing through the air, the pipe bomb began to beep loudly. Instantly, the infectees took notice, charging after the sound.

"Three... two... ALL RIGHT, TAKE COVER!" He shouted, huddling by the car. With a loud bang, the pipe bomb exploded, taking out all of the infectees it had drawn to it. Not wasting any time, he got into the driver's seat of the Hummvee. "All right, get the hell in, everyone! Gogogogo!"

Though it was cramped, the little group of survivors managed to get into the vehicle with a speed that only rabid zombies can inspire. Hitting the gas pedal, Rock sped up the slanted slope, onto the street and drove away.

"What the fuck was that, Rock?" Revy asked, sounding impressed.

"A good old dose of C4 in a pipe, with a fuse and a house alarm tied to it." Rock ecxplained. "I had no idea if it would work, and I almost forgot I had it, but the general idea was to mix sound with explosives, and it looks like it works."

"Damn, Rock!" Revy said, patting him on the shoulder. "I guess you're good for more than just yelling at, after all!"

"I don't mean to complain, but it's a little cramped back here and this belongs to my friend. Can you stop and can we get out?" Shizuka requested.

"I have to agree with the pretty woman on this one, Rock." Rotton responded.

Rock stopped the car. The group was several blocks down the road when Rock stopped the car. One by one they got out. Saya, Rei, Alice and Shizuka unwrinkled their clothes.

"I'm going to take a headcount." Takashi volunteered and made sure everyone in his group was accounted for. When they were he took a relaxing sigh. "All right, now that that's over can we get some things squared away?"

"What kind of things?" Rock asked.

"Well, for starters, you asked if there was any safe place for you. As far as we know, there's nothing." Takashi stated.

"However, there is safety in numbers, that's what you want to say right?" Rotton asked in perfect Japanese. Rock looked at him. "I've dedicated a few years of my life to becoming multilingual."

"I think it would be beneficial if—"

Rei cut Takashi off, "Takashi, are you crazy?"

"I'm with Rei on this one." Saya responded. "We can't trust these people. They nearly tried to kill you and Hirano earlier."

"But when 'they' attacked we all banded together." Takashi responded. He looked at Rock's group. "They could've just punched a hole through the line and run, but they stuck with us."

"They say that the most unlikely of individuals become allies in times of great crisis." Rotton said. Takashi nodded in agreement.

"Gah, can someone translate!" Revy rubbed her head furiously. "My Japanese isn't all that great you know!"

Rock turned towards Revy. "We're thinking of teaming up and sticking together."

Revy shrugged. "Sure. We'll need something more than that Humvee, though. A truck might do it."

"...weren't you just trying to kill them?" Rock was confused.

"I could try again."

"I'm just saying, you readjusted pretty quickly just now-"

"Yeah, I'm only changing my mind to fuck with your head, Rocky boy. Now let's get the fuck outta here. There's what, a dozen of us now? We'll need food, god knows I need more ammo, we need another car and gas to boot, and fur fuck's sake, I need better clothes!"

Here, she gestured at her hot pants, soaked in water, blood and ichor; her short jacket now torn in several places... it was an outfit that, in normal circumstances, one would just burn. The same was true for all of them, to an extent- Rock's clothes weren't exactly in prime condition, and few of them had the kind of clothing that could resist bites.

Rock simply nodded.

"So... ask the chinks if they know about some decent store for clothes nearby, okay?"

"We're not chinese." Saeko put in coolly, with only a hint of an accent, "and we can understand what you're saying."

"Whatever, chingurishu."

"As for clothes," Saeko continued, "there's a mall a block or two away. If we're lucky, it's not looted too badly. Plenty of Them, though."

"All right, the mall it is then!" Revy said, marching down the street.

"You're going the wrong way." Saeko said smugly.

"Bitch, I'll fuck you up."

"Try it." Saeko had her hand on her boken.

"Look, let's just go to the store and chop each other up later, okay?" Rock said, tired with all the raging hostility. "None of the zombies are around, so let's just quietly walk there and see what we can find."

"Oh, a mall. How _original_." Sawyer said, and Rock was again amazed at the amount of sarcasm she could put into the mechanical voice.

"Look, cliche or not, it might have something useful. Who's coming?"

"Takagi," Takashi spoke to his friend, "Your house is at 2-choome at Higashi Hill right?"

"That's right." The pigtailed girl replied.

"Well then that's where our group should head, but since there's plenty of us to fight, I guess we can make a detour." Takashi replied. There was a mumbling of "yes" and an occasional "no", but eventually, the group walked off towards the mall.

The mall turned out to be one of those lengthy strip malls with different kind of stores. The doors were locked so Saeko, Revy, Sawyer and Shenhua just smashed in the windows. While the high school refugees gathered food and supplies, Rock and the others raided the clothing store.

A short while later, Revy had found a gruesomely expensive pair of black leather pants- two sizes too large, but she had claimed it would only make it easier to move in- and to complement it, a quality cotton shirt, and a black leather jacket that, given the brand name- Rock could see it plainly- would have cost him half a year's pay.

"You know, this 'apocalypse' ain't half bad." Revy mused. "I get to kill as many of these fuckers as I want, there's no cops to worry about, and now I have a brand new quality outfit."

"Never figured you for a fashionista, Revy." Rock said, grinning. He had, after getting a new pair of pants and shirts, and after smoking a cigarette, begun to ease up a little. The mall was fairly empty, and what few infectees were around had been dispatched quickly and efficiently.

"Fashion? Who gives a fuck? This is good shit, Rock. These clothes are built to last for decades, and it's quality leather. I'm gonna be god damn biteproof! If I could get a hot shower on top of this, it would make my day complete."

"Well, why don't you go ahead and change, then?" Rock said, leaning back on a sofa.

"Gotcha." Revy said, pulling her top off. "Hmm... this bra's gotta go. Torn." With that, she removed it as well, now sitting topless before him.

Rock choked on his cigarette. "Revy- uhm, shit- ACK!" He coughed hard, spitting out the now extinguished cigarette butt. "You know there are booths for this. If you want, you know…privacy!"

Revy just chuckled, shamelessly pulling off her hot pants. "If it bothers you, don't look." She grinned, amused at his reaction. "What, can't even look at a woman's body without blushing like a school boy?"

"It's more that the last time I accidentally walked in on you changing, you emptied a clip my direction, you crazy woman."

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that, I guess I overreacted." She said calmly, still all but naked, reviewing her new clothes. "So why are you still averting your eyes? This ain't the time for bashfulness, not for either of us."

Rock turned to look at her, and... despite all their hardships, he couldn't help but feel a little stunned at how good she looked in all her glory. He must have stared a little, because a bit later Revy said:

"Wanna go check if there's any underwear? Mine's not really that fresh."

Happy to comply, Rock hurried off, scouring the store. Eventually finding some boxers, he handed them over to her. Revy changed, completely unembarrassed, and soon she was admiring her image in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Sawyer also outfitted herself in leather, but with a dark mauve jacket, a black shirt and dark blue pants. Both her jacket and her pants were almost impossible to tell that they weren't the same color as her shirt. If the zombies cared for such things they'd be met with a chainsaw to the neck before they could get close enough to tell the difference.

Rotton had not done much, having a sentimental attachment to his coat, but Shenhua had switched to jeans and a leather jacket- harder to move in, she complained, but it was better than risking being bitten.

"Too bad there's not a car dealership anywhere." Revy scratched her head. "We could use some extra transportation."

"Well there's always that." Rotton pointed to a motorist shop where there was whole lineup of motorcycles, mopeds and motorized scooters.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about." Revy said with a humongous grin.

After inspecting the bikes, she decided on three of them- she, Rotton and Takashi would drive on each, taking passengers as needed. It would be a good complement to the Humvee, and would provide a lot of maneuverability. All that remained was to scour for some gas.

A thorough search of the mall had yielded plenty of foods, some of it a little stale, water, and even a few spare gas cans- but to Revy's chagrin, no gun stores meant no extra ammunition.

"All right, everyone," Revy said, gathering them all round in a cafeteria. "you all need to pick up a few tricks, especially you chink kids." She took a few glass bottles out of a now deactivated fridge, pouring out their contents in a sink. Taking up a gas can and a funnel, she began filling them with gas.

"This, kids, is an improvised explosive device, better known as a Molotov Cocktail." She soaked small strips of cloth with benzene, and put a strip into each bottle, putting a cork on top of each bottle, taping the things shut. "You light the strip on fire, toss it, and boom! You've got hellfire in a bottle. Burns zombies pretty well, and it gives you room to breathe. Rock's gonna be making pipe bombs, too. When we leave here, all of us are gonna be as prepared as we can be, because there's no telling when we can resupply again. Each of you will carry one of these, for emergencies. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" Kohta saluted without hesitation.

Alice was the only one not carrying one, since both Takashi and Kohta agreed that a little girl shouldn't be playing with dangerous objects. Shizuka stuck hers in her cleavage, much to Revy's annoyance, but she knew that arguing with Shizuka's type would just give her a headache.

With everyone set up and ready to go the group headed off. Takashi knew where he was going so he took the lead with Rei having her arms clutched around his waist. He reminisced of the time they had been separated from the rest of the group for an entire evening only to meet up with them approximately 18 hours later.

The Humvee was behind him. Shizuka was driving with Saya in the passenger's seat. Kohta, Saeko, Alice, Rock and Sawyer rode with them. Alongside the Humvee was Revy, by herself. She had offered Rock to be her passenger, but Rock wasn't about to trust Revy behind the wheel of anything. Also he felt he was a lot safer in the big huge armored car than he would be on a motorbike. Revy poked fun at him asking if he was afraid of a few scrapes, bruises and sharp turns, but Rock said he'd rather ride comfortably than holding on for dear life, not that he would've minded hanging onto Revy from behind.

Rotton and Shenhua brought up the rear. Rotton kept his eyes on the road while Shenhua looked off behind for anything turning down a corner. She had reach and silence, two things that were essential to not getting bitten.

As they came closer to Saya's home, there was a noticeable increase of infectees roaming the area. Several would try and make a grab for the survivors, but the Humvee plowed through them with the effortlessness that only four tons of armored steel can produce, the bikes following close after in its bloody wake. The road was slippery with zombie blood and guts, but they powered through with determination, with the will to survive.

Revy drove up next to the Humvee, knocking on its window. Shizuka lowered the window, slowing down a little.

"There's a fuckload of zombies behind us, and even more up ahead." Revy said matter-of-factly. "How much further is it?"

"It's not far now." Saya assured her. "Just a few blocks more, and we'll be there. Daddy can protect us, I know it."

"Then I suggest we speed the fuck up. More are coming, and if we stop, they'll swarm us. Take the lead, and we'll be right behind you."

"I agree." Rock said. "The sooner we get out of this, the better."

Shizuka nodded, pressing down the gas pedal. Behind the speeding Humvee, the bikes followed. For maybe half a kilometre, it worked just fine- the car broke through the straggling infectees with ease, the bikes following- but suddenly, in the middle of the road-

"Look out! Wires!" Kohta shouted. And across the road, a net of thick razor wires had been stretched. Shizuki, trying to avoid a collision, steered to the left, the car skidding to a halt in the guts of the zombies, stressing the wires.

The bikers did better, managing to slow in time, but they were surrounded- infectees everywhere, from all directions. Revy lashed out, taking down two with her machete before the momentum of her slowing motorcycle had stopped.

"We need to hit as many of them as possible before they mass!" Revy shouted. "Chinglish, Psycho, help me chop 'em down!"

Shenhua was already thinning the ranks of the undead, and Saeko, scoffing at the probably intentional mispronunciation of her name, jumped out of the car, beheading a groaning infectee.

"What's going on?" Rock asked Shizuka. "Can you get us out of here?"

"It's stuck!" Shizuka exclaimed, desperate. "The guts are make the wheels skid, there's no hold!"

"Well, we need some breathing room." Rock said, hopping out. The horde was massing, dozens more marching down the street towards them. Pulling out a pipe bomb, he started the alarm, going off at a loud, annoying beep, and tossed it as far as he could down the street. The infectees rushed towards it, and seconds later, guts, bones and blood sprayed through the air, taking dozens down.

"Good timing, Rock." Rotton commented. "Now, let's all hurry under those wires, before they regroup."

"I'm not leaving these bikes behind." Revy said. "We can fit them under the wire... everyone, get what supplies you can. We'll cover you!"

Takashi and Rei had begun to run at top speed, when Rei tripped over her overly long, tied shoelace, and her impact with the ground caused a few zombies to start heading towards her. It took Takashi a few moments to skid to a halt, but those few moments put the gap wide enough between him and Rei for zombies to get in between them. Takashi began firing off his gun to get them away from Rei who sat there like a panicked, helpless child, frustratingly trying to get the sniper off her back so she could use it.

"Like hell you're getting to her!" Takashi shouted as he began firing off round after round.

Takashi's point-blank, though widely inaccurate, shots were backed up by Kohta's long-range sniper rounds.

Sawyer came up alongside the teen, and chainsawed a few that copming at him from behind. Takashi grabbed Rei and lazily threw her over his shoulder. Rei clamped her legs around her Ex-boyfriend and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"Thanks, Takashi." She said."

"Don't worry, I wasn't about to leave you behind." He told her. As he ran for cover the sound of more moaning and groaning could be heard as the group backed themselves into one nice neat little cluster. Zombies were swarming everyone.

"Ah, shit!" Revy cursed, sneering. Zombies were pouring out of every corner nook and cranny. A few burst out from the manhole cover.

"Where did they all come from?" Saya wondered.

"They must've been lured here by Rock's pipe bomb." Kohta rationalized.

"Great, as if we didn't have enough troubles already." Takashi lamented.

Everyone stood huddled together as the horde drew near. In moments they would be blitzing at the formerly alive for the greatest battle of survival they had faced in this so called apocalypse.

"Crawl under those god damn wires." Revy growled. "We'll hold them however fucking long you need!"

**To be continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: Let the battle commence. Also Lagoon of the Dead will be taking a break of development for at least two weeks. I am going on vacation and since this is a collab…well you can figure out the rest on your own)**


	5. Manor of the Dead

**(A/N: I have nothing to say)**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool of the Dead or Black Lagoon. Neither does my co-author

**3rd Person pov**

* * *

><p>Takashi stood still, staring. Things had seemed to be looking up. The thugs they had met had proven to be good, strong fighters. Cocky, unafraid, no-nonsense. He had had hope; things had looked up.<p>

Now the wall of the living dead was advancing, like a scene from hell. The stink, the low groaning, that inevitable gait... he felt hopeless. Ammunition was going to run low soon, and the others- oh the others! Saeko, Saya, Kohta, Alice, Shizuka, and Rei- would they all die here? Would this be it?

Takashi's moment of despair was abruptly interrupted by Revy's foot connecting with his posterior with enough force to send him face first into the ground, skidding towards the wires.

"Get yer ass MOVING!" She roared. She grabbed a molotov, lit the fuse and tossed it. The flames rose high, cutting the infectees off. Shenhua, Sawyer and Saeko finished the first of the advancing horde off, giving them a few second's worth of respite.

"All right kiddies, MOVE!" Revy shouted. "Move, or I am killing you myself! Everyone, get by the damn Humvee, we'll use it to block our left side off! Rotton, get your useless ass over to the wires and get them all through, NOW!" Revy quickly mounted her bike, drove it a few meters closer to the Humvee, resting it against its rear end. It would hopefully be enough of an obstacle that the infectees would be slowed down just a little, or even forced to walk around it.

"Rock, toss your damn molotov!"

Already ahead of her, Rock had lit the rag fuse and tossed it. The first cocktail was burning out; the second one was desperately needful.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I would say you cared if these kids lived or died, Revy." Rock shot her a grin.

"I'm not about to pull some god damn heroic sacrifice, Rock. This ain't FUBAR yet- get whatever god damn supplies you can over those wires!"

Rotton, not wanting to argue with both Revy and the hellish oncoming horde, had gently pushed first Alice and then Shizuka under the wire, helping the school kids best he could.

It couldn't end like this. Everything just couldn't end. Takashi ran like a gerbil on caffeine towards the wires, and with an energetic yell he jumped onto the hood of the Humvee for a boost; using it to propel himself over the wires whereupon he landed on his feet and skidded a few meters forward. He began panting like crazy with sweat dripping down from his brow like lemmings off a cliff.

"I give him ten for landing." Shenhua chuckled.

Revy, once everyone had crossed the wires to relative safety, took a page out of Takashi's book, planted her foot on the hood of the Humvee and leapt over the wires, and loaded up her last clips of ammo.

"Well this is it, boys and girls." She said.

"You can't be serious. We're gonna die here!" Takashi shouted.

"I'm almost out of ammo and the dead are coming like a slow moving angry mob. Those wires ain't gonna last forever. With all the shouting we've been doing there's bound to be more of these fuckers just down the road. We need to—"

"Get down!" A voice cut Revy off.

Everyone dropped flat as a blast from a fire hose ripped through the undead horde like a rampaging bull.

"I'd say we're about even now." The voice that spoke had Revy whip her head around to make sure that she wasn't hearing things. Standing nearby, in an alligator skin shirt and pants, wearing rose-tinted sunglasses and sneering down with a 'You owe me' grin was Eda. "Don't you think Revy?"

"I don't fuckin' believe it..." Revy groaned.

"Sometimes, you just have to believe. Believe, not in yourself, but in the me that believes in yourself!" Eda cackled as she hosed down the oncoming zombies.

"Eda, you're full of shit." Revy grunted.

"And don't I know it! Who the hell do you think I am?"

"She's snapped." Rock stated.

Eda grabbed him by the collar, staring him in the eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Now listen, you little shits," she said, dropping the hose. Not wanting to take any chances, Rotton and Shenhua grabbed it, pumping water down the street. "I've been through absolute hell. I've spent the last thirty-six hours running from zombies, from looters, and from crazy-as-fuck ultra-nationalists, so you will damn well have to forgive me if I am a little on edge! Now get on your fucking knees and thank me for the rescue, you ungrateful fuckers!"

Revy, having gotten up on her legs, slung an arm around Eda's shoulder.

"I knew you could make it, you stupid bitch!" There was some unmistakable joy in her voice. Perhaps the sight of somebody familiar had excited her, or she was simply happy to see Eda again; Rock didn't know. "I knew you were too tough to eat! Fuck yeah!"

"Yeah, yeah, calm yourself..." Eda said, sounding mildly embarrassed.

"So what happened, Eda?" Rock asked.

"Well... I got swept along the coastline, managed to swim to shore a few miles closer to town than where we got separated. Then, I walked in there 'cause there was no shelter anywhere, and I was hungry... and then, I did a lot of running. Had to lose the nun getup, too bulky. Killed a bunch of zombies, beat the snot out of some punks who thought a lone woman was easy prey, and then I got into a fight with some ultra-nationalist fuckers, and somehow I ended up staying at their place. I dunno, maybe their leader thought I was hot? Anyways, that's my story in short. Now, how the fuck did you manage to tow along half a school class?"

"Wait. Ultra-nationalists?" Saya spoke up before anyone else could. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about a large building about a couple blocks from this exact location, would you?"

Eda lit a cigarette. "Yeah, why?"

"That's my house! How…is everyone there alive?" Saya was almost too excited for words.

Rock cut in, since Eda was confused. "After the boat sank, Revy grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me to the surface. She passed out, and Rotton had a life raft out on the water, he let us in and we got to shore where we met up with everyone else here. The girl with the pink hair is Saya Takagi. Her and her friends were headed for her house for shelter, since it's the closest out of all their homes, I think."

"You guys are a bunch of tough brats then." Eda complimented taking another puff on her cigarette. She then looked at Revy with a sly grin.

"What?" Revy snapped.

"Saving the white collar trash in your group rather than your best friend? Something you wanna tell me about the two of you, Revy?" Eda chuckled.

Revy pushed the blonde off her. "Fuck you Eda." she said nonchalantly.

"Hey, stop pretending like I don't exist! Are there people alive at that house?" Saya shouted.

"Plenty. I was sent out to scout since I'm taking up space. I guess they figured I might end up chow for those undead fuckers." Eda responded.

"Take us there." Takashi said with a demanding look in his eye. When Eda didn't respond he added. "Please."

Eda pushed up her glasses. "All right, follow me and stay quiet. You guys were so loud earlier I think every zombie in the neighborhood probably came headed to this spot."

"Can we not use that word?" Takashi said, on edge. "Using it makes all of this seems fake and we're experiencing a very real life or death survival of the fittest apocalypse. Hearing you all throwing that word about so nonchalantly just makes my skin crawl."

Revy stepped up face to face- invading his personal space like the Mongols did China- and in an incredible display of maturity, she slowly drawled:  
>"ZOOMMM-BEE. ZOMM-BEE."<p>

"Look, that's-"

He was cut off by an armor piercing slap right across his cheek.

"What part of this is fake to you, Trashy? This is as fucking real as it gets. The dead now literally outnumber the living. Not figuratively, literally. This is the single biggest fucking crisis in human history, and you're gonna tell me not to call it what it is 'cause it sounds fake? You dumb fucking brat, this shit is FUCKING REAL!"

Takashi staggered backwards, shocked and a little scared.

"I think you made his balls pop back, Revy." Eda said, grinning. "Lighten up, he's just a dumb kid-"

"A dumb kid with a gun, who thinks he can protect something. This ain't the kind of movie where you can afford to whine or walk around naive. Come the fuck on, let's get outta here!"

With that, she turned around, and trotted down the street. Behind her, Shenhua, Rotton and Sawyer picked up what supplies they could, and hurried after.

Saya leading the way, they soon came upon the ultra-nationalist mansion Eda had talked about. It was impressive; the house alone was majestic. Old, imposing- and the camp around it was no less impressive. Fences, refugee camps, armed guards- it made Rock's (and Takashi's) heart swell with hope. Humanity was not doomed at all. There was resistance. Life finds a way.

"This is it, then?" Revy said, inspecting the house. She looked unimpressed, but gave it an appreciative nod. "Your dad must be loaded."

"Daddy's got a lot of supporters. He's a strong, brave man who loves his nation very much. In times like these-"

"He's a sap, then." Revy said, tossing her smoke and putting it out with her foot. "Patriotism's just another excuse for somebody else to die for you. On the other hand… looks like he could be a useful sap, at least."

"You may wanna tone down the attitude, Revy." Eda said, her face serious. "These guys take pride, honor and all that bullshit very seriously, and they've got guns, and an attitude."

"Sounds like with us in the mix, we've got a powder keg." Rock said solemnly.

As the group came back to the front gates Eda banged on the gate. "Hey! Open up and let me in! I got refugees!"

Two armed men opened the gate, standing in front of it. They scanned Eda and the others for a bite marks. They radioed to 'Yuriko' with an all clear, and the others went inside the courtyard. This was the second time Eda had been checked for zombie bites and the second time her bite had been missed. Eda was sure it was a lucky oversight thanks to the fact that she had removed most of the blood and plastered the area down with so many bandages and gauze wrap to hide it when she was on the Lagoon Company's boat.

If anyone was going to ask, Eda was hoping to pass it off as a surgical growth removal.

"Look at these fuckers. Half those tents don't have weapons or ammunition." Revy snorted as the group walked through the busy courtyard.

"Not all the people here are fighters, ya trigger happy bitch." Eda chastised. "Everyone here's lost family and friends to these undead fuckers."

Takashi clenched his fist and looked at it remembering how he had killed Hisashi with a bat. He looked over to Rei who was standing close behind him certain that he'd never let such a thing happen to her as well.

As the group walked towards the front door to the house, Saya bolted towards the front steps when she saw a gorgeous woman with strawberry pink hair leaning up against a support beam.

"Mama! Mama!" Saya cried and ran forward and leapt into her mother's arms.

"Oh, so that's your kid, is she? Figured she had to be related." Eda said with a grin to Yuriko.

"You already know each other?" Takashi asked.

"Yuriko's the one who broke up the fight when I got it in nasty with her group. She's easier on people messing with her boys than Balalaika, I'll say that much." Eda said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Yes, I did." Yuriko said, giving a smile. "I don't know this Balalaika, but she doesn't sound like a very nice person. You always get so much further with a smile and a kind word."

"Not a nice person... now, that's a contender for Understatement of the year." Rock muttered.

A little later, they had all been given lodgings. It was good luck that they had been helping the school kids survive- especially Saya- because otherwise, Revy doubted they'd have been given rooms inside the mansion.

Sighing to herself, she ran a bath. She wasn't normally one for this sort of thing, but after the gore, grime and dirt, and the hell of a day she had been through, she felt she needed a break. A long, relaxing break.

"Hey, Revy, I-" Rock, just now walking in, turned right around when he saw her soaking in the bathtub.

"Get back here, you pussy." Revy shot after him. "Come one, what did you have to say?"

"Uhm, well... nothing special, I guess. I just didn't feel like doing nothing, sitting alone. So... I guess I wanted to see if you wanted to do something."

"What, like bumping uglies?" Revy snorted. "Hell of a sense of romance you got, Mister Okajima."

"I was thinking more along the lines of playing a children's card game." Rock shot back. "You're the one who brought it up, not me."

"Eh, just kidding." Revy said, indifferent to her nudity. "You wouldn't have the balls to do anything, anyway."

"Yeah? What if I got into that bath, taught you a lesson?" Rock wasn't sure why he was speaking so boldly. Usually, this might have been suicide.

"Go on. I dare you." Revy shot back. There was a challenging look in her eyes- did she really...? No. They were all tired, all on edge. Without a word, he got up and walked out.

"Pussy."

"He really is." Eda's voice came from the other room, now walking in wearing only a towel. "A real man would just have gotten in there and raped you, duh."

"Fuck you, Eda."

"I'm just saying, if you really do want in his pants- and you do- then don't be such a bitch all the time. There's tons of pussy for him to score 'round this mansion, and most of it is less stingy than you."

Revy didn't answer, but glared angrily.

"So, room for one more?" Without waiting for an answer, Eda took off her towel and went into the bath. There was plenty of room, sure, but Revy felt annoyed. Most of all, she just wanted to relax.

"Come on, I'll wash your back." Eda complied, reluctantly, and turned around with her arms folded, using one hand to cover up her bite. Through the steam Revy wouldn't be able to see it. The two women switched positions and Eda used her unbitten arm to wash Revy's back. When Revy saw Eda's left hand in the mirror she paused and noticed there was something not entirely right with the picture before her.

"Aren't you right handed?" Revy asked.

"Umm…" Eda's arm retracted quickly. Revy, unsure what had Eda so skittish and very interested in finding out whirled around grabbed Eda's right arm and twisted it to try and see what was up. It was then that she saw the gauze wrap and gigantic bandage on Eda's arm, covered in gauze.

"What the heck happened to you? Stab wound from a fight?" Revy asked.

"Uh…yeah…" Eda said trying to come up with some fake story on the spot. "I had this uh…fight…with these guys…out on the street and…yeah…" Eda held out her arms. "Biiiig fight."

"Anyone ever tell you that you suck at fibbing?" Revy sneered.

Eda glanced in multiple directions trying to come up with some way to get out this hot water and not the steamy bath currently running.

Revy turned around and sat back down with a lackadaisical grin. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter. Couldn't be that you got bit. You'd be dead as a corpse with one of my bullets through your skull if that were the case."

"Oh, so I'm nothing more than a blight if I go mindless, you cold-hearted bitch?" Eda ranted.

"Pretty much." Revy said, implying that she wasn't going to change her response any time soon.

Eda relaxed herself. Revy wouldn't pry, and she had been fine so far. Right now, she should just relax, soak up and let the memories of the last few days steam away...  
>Relaxing herself, she leaned back onto Revy.<p>

Suddenly, she realized Revy had grabbed something-. And before she knew it, Revy had put a knife to her bandage, slicing it open.

"Hey!"

"Yup, you really do suck at lying." Revy stated, holding Eda's arm up for a good look. The inside of her right arm really did have a bite- a nasty wound, raw and sore. It was not bleeding, Revy noticed, and... it even looked like it was recovering.

"Look, Eda," Revy said, casually holding her knife to Eda's throat. "You're gonna have to be straight with me on this one, okay? I don't like risks. Tell me all about it, or your ass is grass."

After perhaps half a minute of silence, Eda spoke up, quietly.

"It was old Yolanda. I heard the flu was really fucking bad, so I stayed inside the church. 'Course, somebody had already gotten the flu, and one night this guy turns, and it's like Resident fucking Evil in the church. Yolanda and me locked ourselves in her office, but she already got bit. Come morning, I awoke with her all over me. She got a bite out of me before I shoved her off, put a bullet in her head. I guess I was lucky she was old and weak."

Revy nodded. "And this was how long ago?"

"Over three days now, plus all that time at sea- must be at least ten days old. I figured I was doomed, so I decided to just clean house and take as many of those assholes with me as I could before I lost my mind. Then I got to the afternoon, everyone in the church was dead, and I didn't feel one bit like groaning, wandering around or eating people. So I figured, maybe I had a shot. So, I called you guys."

"And you don't want to eat people? At all?"

"No. I just... shit, Revy, this is fucking tough. I don't know anything anymore. I just wanna live."  
>She felt Revy's knife press against her throat. "Listen!" she added, desperately. "If I'm not turned, then I might be immune! That means not everyone turns! Something in my blood, genes or whatever is resisting this! This could be fucking priceless for a scientist!"<p>

She felt the pressure go off, and a small 'clink' as Revy dropped the knife on the floor.

"Good point, I guess. But don't show anyone. These guys don't look like they are taking chances."

Eda nodded, relieved.

"So, have you cleaned that wound out yet?"

"Uh, no. Been sorta busy, and there was no privacy to change back at the boat."

"Well, let's fix it now, then. It looks pretty nasty." With that, Revy grabbed a small bottle of saké she had next to the tub, and splashed some of its contents over the wound.

"Ouch! That fucking stings, bitch!"

"Shaddap! I am wasting quality saké on you, you ungrateful bitch. This is seventy percent alcohol, this'll sterilize it just fine."

While Eda grumbled, Revy firmly and successfully cleaned out her wound.

Meanwhile, Rock stood outside, having a smoke. He started thinking about everything that had happened in the last week or so. He thought about how things had gone completely to hell. The sanity of the world was slipping bit by bit, and the idea of having to continue through this mad world put Rock so on edge that he just really needed a cigarette to forget about it.

As he stood there with the smoke pouring from his jaw, Takashi walked up to him with a dark expression plastered over his face.

"Hit me." The teenager said.

"Aren't you a little young to be smoking anything?" Rock inquired.

"What does it matter?" Takashi returned. "There's no law and no order. Rei was drinking sake the other night. I shot a living human being and bashed my best friend's skull in with a baseball bat. Just give me a cigarette."

Rock sighed, realizing there was no point in arguing. He chuckled, thinking how Revy would give Takashi props for his attitude and light him up. This, in turn, made Rock realize he had to toughen up a bit if he wanted to live. He saw the teenager before him, already wrapped into the world around him and having crossed a threshold that put him in a state where he could go in and out of being a normal high school teenager and acting like he was a hardened soldier, the latter of which Revy would mock consistently. He lifted a cig out of the box and handed it to Takashi and passed him the lighter.

Takashi lit himself up and coughed, noting this was his first time doing anything of the sort. Takashi got somewhat used to the smoke, and continued to use the cigarette; still coughing every other breath.

"So, what's your story?" Rock asked Takashi.

"What do you mean?" Takashi asked.

"You seem like you've been through a lot." Rock responded.

"Like you'd be one to talk given how you seem kind of out of place hanging around with that friend of yours and those other weirdos." Takashi responded.

Rock chuckled as he thought about everything he had been through with Revy and the Lagoon Company. "Well, I can't argue there."

"How did you end up with those... criminals, anyway? You use to be a yakuza tough guy, or something? You sure don't sound like one. You sound like... well, my uncle, or something. A normal guy."

"I was." Was all Rock said. Not satisfied, Takashi kept prying.

"So what happened? That girl, the crazy one with the foul mouth- what's she to you? What happened?"

"Asks the school kid who won't even tell his own story."

"Show me yours, I'll show you mine."

Rock broke out laughing for the first time in what seemed like years.

"Come on, tell me. Who is she? How did you end up with her?"

"The circumstances... well, it's sort of like something out of Die Hard, or something. I was a messenger boy for a huge company, something important was in my briefcase, and Revy, Dutch and Benny were hired to steal it. She stuck a gun to my face, kidnapped me, because she figured she could sell me back as a hostage."

Takashi flinched. "...that is how you first met? Really?"

"Don't believe me if you don't want to."

"No, go on." Takashi said, intrigued. Having seen Revy in action, he didn't exactly find it improbable she would do something like that.

"Well, shit happened, and my company decided it was better if the pirates just killed me. So they left me for dead, the Lagoon accepted me into the crew and I became this... sort of pirate, I suppose. Never touched a gun, though."

Takashi gave a whistle. "You know, normally I would tell you to pull the other one, 'cause it's got bells on. But... after these last days, nothing really seems too insane to be true. So what is she to you, anyway? It's like she thinks your her possession, or something. Are you two, you know..."  
>Takashi made a few awkward gestures.<p>

"No." Rock said firmly. "I don't think I would have survived that."

"Seriously, nothing's going on? You're arguing all the time- it's like you're married."

Rock took a puff on his cigarette, delaying his answer.

"It's... complicated."

Takashi burst out laughing.

"Just what the hell is so funny, kid?" Rock said, annoyed.

Just barely stopping himself from laughing any more, Takashi shot back: "Complicated... that sounds like something any of my classmates would say! That's fucking lame for a big, adult pirate!"

"Well, you know what?" Rock sneered. "That kind of shit doesn't get easier with the years! Especially not when the girl's a trigger-happy psycho!"

Takashi took another puff of his cigarette and coughed again.

"So, what about you?" Rock asked.

"My story isn't exactly as interesting as yours. I was always just a normal guy, and then all this happened." Takashi responded, waving his hand around in the air to gesture to the situation.

"Okay, so what happened when all of this started going down? You said you bashed your best friend's skull in?" Rock was curious about details.

"Igo Hisashi. He was my best friend for the longest time. In fact, when Rei and I broke up she wound up dating Hisashi for a while." Takashi said taking another puff on the cigarette.

"Love triangle huh? That shit is always messy." Rock responded.

"Yeah well, the fact that the three of us were running around the school like helpless frightened children didn't exactly help matters." Takashi stated.

"Wait, your school got invaded?" Rock asked.

"Might as well be calling that place the Highschool of the Dead now." Takashi chuckled.

"Sounds like a great name for an anime." Rock laughed.

Takashi returned to being serious. "Anyway, long story short, Hisashi got bit. He didn't change right away, most don't. It was about twenty, maybe thirty minutes to an hour later when he finally transformed. I bashed his head in without hesitation. Rei… hated me at first. She thought I did it for revenge, but… if I hadn't crushed Hisashi's skull with that bat, neither of us would be here."

"You certainly seem to care a lot about her, Rei. Are you two trying to work things out now that everything's gone chaotic?" Rock asked.

"I might." Takashi rubbed the back of his head, "Rather I've thought about it. I mean, when we were kids we promised we'd marry each other. Of course there's also Busujima… Saeko."

"Oh, right the girl with the sword." Rock remembered taking another puff. "You like her?"

"Not… sure. I mean… I hardly know her."

"You know with the world the way it is, indecisiveness like that could eventually turn them both on each other over you." Rock said, putting Takashi on edge. "Whoa, hey calm down, I'm just… saying stuff. If you guys are all friends, especially if you all can fight, there's really no point for one of them to kill the other."

The sound of glass breaking from the window above alarmed the both of them. "I'll teach you to steal my apple, you jerkass bitch!" Rei shouted.

Rock and Takashi both ran upstairs to stop whatever fighting was going on, only to find Rei and Saeko in a competitive game of Final Fight. The apple and the glass shattering were an object and sound effect from the game. Saeko was wiping the floor with Rei, in terms of score, and it was pissing Rei off to no end. The fact that the Takagi's had such an old arcade machine was intriguing to Takashi.

Rock smiled just a little.

"Yeah, it's funny, right?" Takashi said, grinning.

"Not exactly."

"Then what?"

"I guess... even with all this going down, they are just being two normal girls, playing games, having fun. It kinda gives you hope everything isn't going to end. That there's happiness even when it's looking grim and dark."

Rock put out his cigarette, and flung it to the side.

**End of Chapter 5**

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: So now we're smack dab in the middle of the HotD manga. Damn the fact that I can't find ch 30 of that series freaking anywhere. Ah, whatever. Production of ch 6 will begin after I go back to college)**


End file.
